Fracturing
by Kenjo Catze
Summary: She wanted to become a doctor, instead she ended up in the 9 year old body of Uchiha Sasuke. The story line begins to slowly break, because how do you keep the events of history as the same if you don't know anything about the place you've been put? Oc-insert.
1. Chapter 1: OH HELL NO!

_Warning: I don't own Naruto. If I did, then I would not be putting stuff on a fanfic site... Unless..._

 _Note: there's some gender confusion approaching._

 _Updated July 3._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Oh Hell No!**

* * *

She woke up from her nightmare with a gasp, she had died… again. Her favourite dreams, ever.

Those dreams were really beginning to get in her nerves, she always died in the most terrifying of ways. Like that one time she dreamed that she got eaten by a giant robot... or that time where a giant red apple house crushed her, it had suddenly come to life, and had immediately squashed her. It must have been angry about her carving out her house inside it...

But not this time, this time it was one of those ordinary nightmares... she was run over by a car. ... _Yay_.

 _Ugh..._

Putting her hand on her face, she massaged her temples trying - and failing - to remove her sudden headache.

"Go away..." She mumbled as she opened her eyes, running her hands over her face to remove the humming tiredness in her skin, and fingers.

Pushing herself up in a sitting position she frowned, as she lightly grasped the thin covers on her legs. Pulling them up to her face, her eye twitched. Her idiot brother had changed her covers while she slept, again.

Rolling her eyes with a huff she stretched with a yawn and slipped her legs out the side of her bed. Rubbing her eyes she pushed herself up into a standing and walked over to the windows, she huffed as she looked out over the few people shuffling around the street beneath her apartment. Looking slightly up she closed her eyes and rubbed her face tiredly again, as the few beams of sun came close to her eyes.

"Mmmm." She murmured as she dragged her short legs over to her veranda, she paused as her hand touched the handle.

Gazing lazily at her reflections dark onyx eyes for a moment, she rubbed her face again. Moving her hand through her short hair, she sighed and opened the glass door to get some fresh air

She breathed a sigh of relief as her the fresh air made her headache disappear slightly, and leaned on the doorframe.

...Wait

… _short_ hair!?

Wildly tugging at her hair she ran inside, closed the door and screeched when she looked at her reflection.

Her hair! It was short!

"I'm really going to kill him..." She threatened the glass with a threatening fist as she glared at the pale boy in her reflection. "You don't just cut people's hair!"

With a scream of rage she punched the wall besides the reflection. Cracks spread out from the point of impact and the wall collapsed under the pressure of her fist, making it sink into the tapestry up till her wrist.

 _What!?_

Her hand just made a hole in her apartments wall.

In her apartments wall.

But she lives in a house. Not an apartment.

A very girlish squeak tore it's way out of her throat as she stared at her terrified reflection, it was a scared young boy maybe ten years old. He looked ghastly with his pale skin, black hair, dark - black - eyes and the gray pyjamas he was wearing. Looking down it became clear that she was wearing the same pyjamas as the boy- no not the same, she was _wearing_ the boy.

 _I'm dreaming…_ she realised and pinched herself on the arm once, when nothing happened she pinched herself a few more times, once on her leg, once on her - or the boys toes and twice on her arm.

"Alright..." She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. "This is not like all those stories, I didn't die. So this is not like that."

She eyed the wall wearily and put her hands on the white wallpaper. _Relax, nothing will happen to you..._ She soothed herself in preparation. Taking a deep breath she shut her eyes and banged her head into the wall, with a loud thud.

"GAH! Ouch..." rubbing her head she looked around her room, except it wasn't her room...

She was still inside the dark haired boy...

She needed to sit down and find out what she would do. Staggering over to the bed she collapsed onto it, landing with her - his face first.

She paled as it dawned on her.

He!?

She gasped in horror as she rolled over, onto her back and put her hands on her _flat_ chest. She released a wail of despair.

 _"OH HELL NO!"_

She hurriedly sat up, throwing her pillow across the room, which smashed against a door and exploded in feathers and looked down...

This was it.

This situation of hers required more... desperate measures…

So she shakily stood up and walked over to a wall and head butted her- his head in the wall, with a sickening crack.

And passed out.

* * *

She woke up in a room which looked suspiciously like a hospital room.

And immediately groped at her chest. _'Relax!'_ She commanded as she felt panic seep into her blood. She sighed as she felt her heartbeat begin to even out again.

"Owieee..." She whined and put her hand to her aching head, she began curiously feeling out her scalp when her touch was blocked by a bandage like wrapping.

 _'I must have hit my head pretty hard...'_

Tenderly patting her head she looked around the stale room. Everything were white except for a vase of roses, with a card peeking out of its crown to her right, sitting on a small white table. Besides the table and roses there wasn't much else of interest, two uncomfortable looking chairs, a window, and a door.

Taking her hand of her head she reached out to the card, and took it of the beautiful red roses. Glancing at the odd scribbling, she flipped it over to look at the odd illustration on it. It was some sort of sword fight, except one of the men was making fire and the other controlling wood.

Flipping the card over she read the other side. A bizarre string of symbols, where scribed down the middle of the cards white side, and she suddenly realised that she understood what was written, perfectly.

"Valley of the End - Senju Hashirama, The First Hokage and Uchiha Madara, Co-founder of Konoha." She read out loud and stared intensely at the text, willing it to become the incoherent symbols it should have been.

Opening the card she looked at the symbols inside, and began reading what was written.

'Dear Sasuke-kun.

I hope to see you in class soon. Depending on how long you'll be staying at the hospital, I've made sure you could get the material brought to you.

Get well. Iruka-sensei.'

'Dear Sasuke-kun.

I hope you'll get better soon, I already miss you at the academy. 3

-Haruno Sakura.'

'Dear Sasuke-kun.

I really miss you. Please get well soon, and return to me. :-*

-Yamanaka Ino.'

These two messages were continued by several greetings and get well's from different girl's.

 _'This guy has a harem... I- I don't want a harem... and especially at this age...'_ She thought with dread as she looked down at her 10 or something old body. Quickly reading through the rest, she paused at a particular message.

'You better get better soon so I can kick your ass! You bastard! So we can spar again.

-Uzumaki Naruto.'

She sat in stunned silence for a while as she looked at the last message.

 _'Holy shit!'_ She almost shouted but managed to contain her exclamation inside of herself.

 _'This - abnormally strong - kid gets bullied and beaten up, by this Uzumaki guy! No wonder he looked so traumatized!'_

The rest of the messages were luckily neutral, and she laid the card to the side by the vase.

Pulling off the covers she slid out of the bed and jumped a bit as her bare feet touched the cold floor. The world span slightly before settling into place and she walked over the window. Leaning towards the glass, she looked out at the eccentric buildings. They varied in size and thick cables ran between the houses, in seemingly random patterns, the building's had a distinct flare of something Chinese or Japanese.

She glanced over to the card briefly, that could mean that she was in Japan or China... it would certainly explain the writing.

Now, if she just wasn't a boy...

She glanced at the wall, maybe she just needed to hit harder-

The sound of the door opening, snapped her out of her (stupid) thoughts.

A brown haired woman opened the door, her hair was short but still wavy as her green eyes tracked her form by the window, with a hawk like gaze. She was dressed in a white coat reaching just above her knees.

"Ah. You're awake. I'm Rukia Marion." The brown haired doctor -she assumed she was a doctor- said, as she entered the room and put a notepad down on the bed. She sat down besides the pad and lightly patted the bed sheets besides her. "Please sit."

Casually moving over, she sat down besides the nurse and looked expectedly at her, with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you know why you're here?" She asked. She continued when the girl turned boy shook her head hesitantly. "Your teacher found you passed out in your apartment when he went to check on you, since you were missing from the academy. So I'm going to be taking a few tests to evaluate how long we're keeping you here. Sounds okay?"

"I-" She stopped with a frown. "I don't know where I am..." It seemed like every thing she said got automatically translated, which was good.

The woman paused and her eyes flickered over her form, before focusing on her eyes. "Amnesia..." She muttered as she scribbled something down in the notepad. "What do you recall?"

"Nothing, I don't know anything. I mean, I know that we're sitting on a bed, but both you and the card." She gestured to the message card. "Mentioned an academy, but I have absolutely no idea what it is. Well, I know it's a school of sorts- it must be. But not going there."

"Do you remember your name?"

"Sasuke, it was written in the card." She explained, absently scratching her arm, when the woman smiled and began opening her mouth.

"I see. Your name is Uchiha Sasuke."

She frowned, and leaned backwards over the bed, she swiped the card of the table. Sitting up again, she turned it to the woman and showed her the illustration. "Like this Uchiha Madara?"

"Ah. Yes." The woman said. "He was one of your ancestors."

"Really? What did he do to get his own postcard?" Sasuke wondered.

"He co-founded the village, konohagakure - it's where we are right now. But he turned traitor and the other founder who was also The first Hokage." She told him and pointed to the man controlling wood. "Fought him at a place called the valley of the end, to defend Konoha." The doctor looked expectedly at her and when she stared back confused, Rukia sighed.

"Okay. Can you stay here for a bit?" The woman asked as she stood up.

"Can I have something to read?" She asked hopeful and did her best impression of puppy eyes, as Rukia opened the door.

"I'll send someone in with a book." Rukia sighed and a small smile appeared on her lips, and closed the door after walking out.

* * *

Rukia quietly closed the door and her mouth twisted into a deep frown, this could become a problem if the last loyal Uchiha didn't get his memory back soon enough. The odd thing was that when she initially scanned his head for any abnormalities, nothing came up except for the bump - albeit large bump - on his forehead and some residue Chakra, Sasuke must have used to soften the blow. No concussion, there weren't anything atypical, so why the amnesia?

"How is he?" A male voice asked her, bringing Rukia out of her thoughts. She looked at the tanned man dressed in Chunin uniform, he had his dark hair pulled back into a high and stiff ponytail, and he had a scar running underneath his warm brown eyes, over his nose.

"Iruka-san," she greeted the man. "We've encountered a bit of a road bump. Sasuke-san has lost his memory, it seems like he doesn't remember who attacked him or his whole life."

"What!?" The teacher exclaimed and stood up like he had been struck by lightning. "I have to go see him!"

Rukia put her hand up to stop him from marching in, "Sasuke-san is taking this really well, but he'd like some books. But you need to realise that he doesn't know you, for him he's suddenly in a strange world he's never seen before. So go get some books for the kid while he lets the new world sink in a bit." She explained.

"...Alright." The man relented and turned down the walkway, walking away.

Turning the other way, Rukia sighed as she walked over to her next patient's room.

* * *

There were a knock on the door as she was gazing out, observing the villagers moving around the street, and a male voice asked if he could come in.

"You can come in." She replied and looked over as a man opened the white door he had dark brown spiky hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was wearing baggy blue clothes and a green vest, he was holding a stack of colourful books of all sizes.

"Hello Sasuke-kun, My name is Iruka Umino, I was your teacher at the academy." Iruka said with a sad smile and put down the pile of books on her bed. "Since you lost your memory, I've taken the time to find some basic books on our world and culture, as well as all your books from the academy."

"That's great." She told him and picked up the top book. Reading the title of the blue book she paused, _'Shinobi academy handbook to Taijutsu.'_

"What's taijutsu and shinobi?" She asked with a tilt of her head as she opened the book, it was about some sort of fighting style, there were long descriptions of poses and series pictures descripting the movements involved in each attack, on each page.

"Ah." Iruka said as he pushed a few books from the top of the stack to the side, and took the book that was revealed. He held it out to her with a smile. "I thought you might get confused,this book is about shinobi, so it should explain a lot."

"Hmmm..." She hummed as she put down the Taijutsu book, and took the thicker book from the man. "History of the Shinobi world." She read out loud and opened it on the index page, she quickly glanced over the subjects, humming.

"A shinobi is - in short words - someone who fights to protect his or hers village, and takes jobs for paying clients." Iruka explained shortly. "The jobs range from simple baby sitting and protecting the client from bandits to assassination. A shinobi is also the soldier of each country they belong to."

"And I chose a profession where I have to kill people? And my family are okay with that?"

Iruka looked sad for a moment. "You're family were shinobi too... but your family died, they were killed." He replied vaguely.

"...How did they die?"

"...Your brother- he killed them."

"That's... nice." She told him sarcastically, flipping through the history book, and Paused at a map, searching around she found Konoha surrounded by a country called Fire.

 _How original._

"Huh?" Iruka said dumbfounded. "I thought you'd be more..." he made some vague gestures with his hands as he trailed off.

"Well." She replied. "I don't really know or remember them, or my crazy brother." And wasn't that nice, not only was the boy - Sasuke bullied by that Naruto kid, but his brother, were some sort of maniac. What a nice life to live, which reminds her...

"This ...Naruto guy." She asked and moved over to pick up the letter to show the message from the boy in question to the teacher. "Did he bully me or something? Because his message seems really aggressive."

"What?" Iruka-sensei asked as he took the card, and his face morphed into a confused expression.

"The Naruto guy." She told him again pointing to the message.

"I... I mean no?" The man scratched his nose, looking awkward. "You're both pretty aggressive towards each other, you don't really get along all that much. But it's a mutual dislike, from what I've seen."

"Pew." She breathed in relief. "I was worried for a moment there!" And wasn't that good, she really didn't want to have to deal with bullies until she figured out how to get back...

"You'll also have to think also bit about the academy and the future, I'll come by in a few days to talk more about it." He told her.

She stared at the man for a moment. "I don't really have anything else, so you can go and do your business..."

"Alright, and remember to read the books." Iruka said as he stood up.

"Oh. By the way, how old am I?" She asked as the man opened the door.

"Ten." He said with a sigh and closed the door after him.

* * *

Iruka shifted slightly as he waited, his week had been a cluster of nerve wreaking incidents. The first event, was when Naruto played a giant prank on the academy. Everything had flashed into chaos the moment orange sparkles exploded in everyone's faces, they had believed it to be an attack at first - to cripple Konoha's future - but when no one was hurt it became obvious who where behind it. Even now a week later, he could still find orange glitter in his clothes.

Then Sasuke-kun had been oddly absent from class, the boy had never missed a class after the death of his family. So the moment he was done with his classes Iruka went straight to the Uchiha's apartment.

He had been horrified by what he found, the boy had been on the ground, bleeding from a wound on his forehead. Not only that, but there were also unmistakable signs of a struggle, feathers were everywhere from a thrown pillow, a fist sized hole in the wall by Sasukes veranda, two cracks in the wall in two different places and one of them was smeared with blood. All the evidence had pointed in the direction of Sasuke having been attacked, before finally getting his head bashed into the wall a final time before getting knocked unconscious-

"Umino-san, the Hokage is expecting you." A soft voice said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Thanking the secretary, who everyone above Chunin knew really was a transformed ANBU. Walking over to the thick wooden door, Iruka knocked on the door to the Hokage office.

"Come in."

Entering the office with a push, Iruka bowed slightly at the old man. "Hokage-sama." He greeted.

"Iruka-kun, how are Sasuke-kun?" The Hokage asked as he puffed on his pipe.

"He has amnesia, we don't know if his memory loss was accidental or his attacker meant to do it."

"I see, I will get an Yamanaka on it as quickly as possible."

"If I may?" Iruka hesitantly asked. "I think it might be better to leave Sasuke without his memories, or let them come back naturally."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "Explain."

"This 'new' Sasuke is... lighter, since he's not burdened with his family's death. When I mentioned their deaths he didn't really react, so I think it would be best to let it go it's own way." He explained.

"Hmm..."

"The only disadvantage about this situation is Sasuke's shinobi training, but if we're lucky he'd subconsciously remember what he already knew."

"What else can you tell about his new behaviour?" The old man asked as he put down his pipe.

"He's more light hearted, he's... stable, worries about things kids of that age should worry about. I can honestly only see advantages in his situation."

"What about if he were to decide not to become a shinobi again?" The aged man asked.

"Then we'll convince him, or in the worst case scenario we can still have an Yamanaka to look on him." Iruka explained. "It's either old Sasuke or new Sasuke, it's a double win."

The Hokage studied the teacher for a few moments as emotions Iruka couldn't identify flashed in his eyes, before sighing. "It pains me but I'll have to agree."

* * *

 _'This is ridiculous,'_ Sasuke thought as she threw the book onto the white bed - narrowingly missing hitting Rukia in the side - with a huff. _'But also really cool.'_

Leaning back against the window still, she crossed her arms over her strangely flat chest with a frown - it was really weird to lose your boobs when you had lived with them for years...

She also needed to become a shinobi.

Other than the whole shinobi are assassins thing, it sounded cool, throwing around fireballs and being able to move faster than nature allowed people to move, where she was from, made her want to stay here. It also gave money like no one's business, depending on how strong the shinobi are.

It also seemed to be a safer profession than being a civilian, if you were a good enough shinobi - Jonin or above, at least. Not having any fighting abilities seems dangerous here, with constant wars plaguing the Elemental Nations, it seemed logical to assume she'd witness a war at some point in her lifetime - unless she could get back of cause.

There were also the whole matter with her being part of an almost extinct clan... which would definitely make the other countries try to kidnap her -an apparently normal thing here (which is _waay_ too creepy, for her tastes) - to make her a mommy -or daddy for several super babies with Saigan or something eyes.

She would need to become the best shinobi to survive in this stupid and awesome world. So really, becoming a shinobi was in her best interests.

Asides from the whole killing people thing, of course.

"Have you thought about it?" Rukia asked her with a small smile, as she picked up the book on chakra.

"Yeah," Sasuke told her with a nod of her head, "I'll become a ninja." And weren't that weird, calling shinobi ninja.

"I'm confident that Iruka-san will be delighted to have you back in his class." She told her and flipped through the book. "What is Chakra made of?"

"Physical and spiritual energies, which can be increased with different methods. For spiritual energy you'll need to train your mind, and for physical you'll need to train your body."

"Good." She said and closed the book with a quick snap.

"I've been thinking..." Sasuke began and moved a book with his foot, before turning his attention to his temporary teacher. "How do you become a medic-nin?"

It was something she was aiming for back in her own world, becoming a doctor was her dream. Helping people with the difficulties of being sick... was a lifelong dream, so when she read about Tsunade Senju a Medical nin, Sasuke immediately knew what her goal would be. To become a medical-nin, maybe an even better medical ninja than the famed female member of the Sannin.

"A medic-nin!?" Rukia gasped as her eyes widened in shock.

"Yes?" Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Is there a problem or something with me becoming a Med-nin?"

"No! There's absolutely no problem!" Rukia said quickly, almost panicky. She took a deep breath. "It's just that lately when we don't have a war on our hands, medic-nins are not being taken seriously, by most of our male shinobi. It's unusual for a boy to actually _want_ to become one, they're usually too preoccupied by flashy jutsu and explosions to even consider it as a career choice."

"Where do I sign up then?" She asked the woman with a slight smirk.

"You take a test where we test if your chakra control is adequate, most shinobi can use some of the most basic medical jutsu with average control. But to become a real medical nin, above average and beyond is required, and then an experienced med nin is assigned to train you. Fortunately most of the Uchiha clan had above average chakra control." She explained. "But if your control isn't good enough, there's no way we'd be able to make a medic nin out of you."

"You're a medical nin? Can you test me?" Sasuke asked hopeful.

"Yes." She told him and grinned at her hopeful expression, the grin quickly turned demonic. "But first we need to get you working for the academy, that means reading, training and torture."

Sasuke gulped as cold sweat ran down his back.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, I've been sitting on an old version of this, (from before I made WutP, and began getting writing experience) and wanted it up on my birthday - because why not? The old version was bad - very bad, even worse than the first few chapters of WutP - and that's saying something to me.**

 **I'm also aiming for this to have humor elements in it, so I might write some ridiculous and odd stuff for my own amusement.**

 **I already have so many plans for this fic... *laughs like a lunatic***

 **Enjoy.**

 **-Kenjo Catze.**


	2. Chapter 2: To have a harem?

_Warning: I don't own Naruto. If I did then Neji would never have *sobs quietly*_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: To have a harem or not to have a harem, that is the question.**

* * *

Releasing the book with a groan, Sasuke glared at the smiling woman, her hawk like green eyes shone as he grumbled moodily. She gave an encouraging nod, releasing an odd cooing sound, and Sasuke got the distinct feeling Rukia was used to dealing with babies, not... whatever she - or he qualified as now.

So he decided to place his hand on the book, and save them both some suffering. Pulling at his chakra, he placed it in the palm of his hand, before looking over to the brunette who gave another over excited nod. So Sasuke slowly raised his hand up, and let the book's cover hang onto his hand as the books joint bended and its pages and other cover flopped down - obeying the laws of gravity.

 _Well this looks ridiculous..._ Sasuke thought as he wiggled his hand, making the book's content swing back and forth.

"Are we done?" He asked, and sent a death glare at Rukia for good measure.

She raised a scarred eyebrow. "Are you finished with your books- all your books?"

"Yesss." He said with a hiss.

"And all the exercises?"

"Yasss."

She smiled and a dangerous glint swept into her eyes. "We'll begin some ninjutsu when you figure out a little riddle of mine."

"What is it!?" Sasuke quickly asked her and accidentally dropped the book he was holding - or had sticking to him, down onto his legs.

"The exercise with the book can be used for something else, it's good for one's footing." Rukia told him as he quickly sent a burst of chakra into his palm, to glue the spine of the book to his hand.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked and closed his fingers over the book.

"Ah, look at the time." Rukia suddenly said as she glanced out the window, and stood up from her chair before walking over to the door, opening it. She paused by the open door, and turned to Sasuke with a smile blinding smile. "I'll be seeing you!"

"What!?"

* * *

Sasuke had collected six goals for his life in this strange world.

 _One:_ To find out what Rukia meant with that odd riddle.

 _Two:_ To become a Medic-nin, and help as many people as possible.

 _Three:_ Grow his hair out, the duck butt look was just not his style.

 _Four:_ Get out of the hospital.

 _Five:_ have fun.

 _Six:_ survive this crazy and absurd world.

And he was going to accomplish goal number one, right now. something about footing...

He glanced down at his feet, and bend down to place a book on the white floor. Directing his chakra to his foot Sasuke carefully placed it on the book, and jumped a foot in the air as the book blasted through the room when a knock came from the door.

 _I don't have time for you!_ He thought moodily and mentally burned a hole in the door when the person outside knocked again. _Leave._ He silently commanded.

Giving up, he moved to the door and picked up the bended book from the floor as another round of knocking came from behind it.

Opening the door with a sigh, Sasuke froze as he came face to face with a long haired blonde girl around ten years of age wearing some strange purple but oddly stylish outfit and _sparkling_ blue eyes and a girl with the most terrifyingly awesome pink hair and green eyes, who was wearing a ribbon in her hair and a cute white tunic.

 _My God... These girls are so adorable, I mean look at them._

"Hi." Sasuke said in his best I'm also a really cute and innocent girl voice and leaned on the doorframe with crossed arms.

"Sasuke-kun!" The blonde said "How are you? Iruka-sensei said that you had an accident. What happened? Are you fine? Do you need anything? I missed you. Do you want to do something? How are you?"

"Uhhh …what?" wow that girl… way too many questions in two seconds.

She blushed a deep red. "Are you okay?"

"Uhh… yeah. Never better. Well maybe I've been better, but you know." he told her with some vague hand gestures. "By the way, who are you?" He finally asked and couldn't help but to smirk at their confusion.

 _This could be fun..._

"Wh-what do you mean?" The pink haired one asked shyly, she blushed when Sasuke turned his gaze on her, and ducked her head, avoiding his dark and steady gaze.

"You didn't hear?" He asked them and turned his black eyes to pale blue with a demonic smile. "I lost my memory."

"...what?" The blonde one asked after a moment of sweet awkward silence.

"Amnesia." He told them and smiled gently. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha one point two. The new and improved me, not that I really know what I'm competing against. So who are you ladies?"

"I'm Haruno Sakura it's nice to meet you again." The pink haired girl said.

"Yamanaka Ino." Blue eyes told him shortly as her eyes narrowed in thought.

 _They seem oddly familiar... oh! Yeah! Now I remember!_

"You're part of Sasuke one point one's harem!" He exclaimed with a snap of his fingers in realization.

" _What!?_ " They screeched as blood rushed to their head.

"What?" He responded immediately.

"As if I would share you with Ino-pig!" Pinky shouted and pointed at the blonde as said blonde screeched something about a forehead.

"Wait..." he said slowly and put up his hand to silence them for a moment. "Does this mean not me cheated on you both?"

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but he put up a finger to shush her. Quickly running- walking over to his desk, he took the card, and ran- walked over to the waiting girls.

"Here," He said and shoved the card into their faces, as he rubbed his neck nervously. "I thought not me had a underage harem from all the love messages, but it seems like we have a misunderstanding."

"I-." Green eyes stuttered, her face a burning scarlet colour.

"Wait. Do you guys just love me or something? And I totally misunderstood your subtle declaration of love as..." Now it was his turn to blush.

Wow. That was embarrassing, he had totally misunderstood their intentions.

"Why would you think that!?" Ino asked him, forcefully calming herself.

"Well everything is so strange here... and I read this ting..." he told them nervously, as he waved the card around.

"It was good to see you again, Sasuke-kun! Bye." Ino quickly said and dragged Sakura away from his room with a strange glint in her eyes and a wave.

He blinked.

What just happened?

"Wow" he told the hospital room. "That was weird."

* * *

"Alright..." He mumbled, and moved his chakra over to the bottom of his foot. Pulling on his leg, Sasuke smiled at his success with a cheer, when his foot stayed stuck to the wall.

Taking his other leg up on the wall, above his other foot, Sasuke focused his chakra into it. Taking the other one he did it again, and slowly walked up the wall, mentally thanking the Gods for his physical condition.

"One. more. step." Sasuke carefully said to himself, as he moved his right foot over to the roof.

"Pew." He breathed when he didn't fall off, which was a giant plus -even if his bed was under him. Carefully walking over to the other side of the room, Sasuke almost jumped out of his skin with a yelp as someone knocked on his door.

"Fuck." He grunted as he regained his balance, if you could even call it that when he's upside down on the ceiling. "Come in!"

"Hey Sasuke-kun." Iruka-sensei said as he opened the door. "Have you thought-" he stopped as he caught sight of the dark haired boy.

"What are you doing!?"

"I'm a spider!" Sasuke said and flapped his arms around like wings. "Or bird!"

"Get down that's dangerous!" He quickly demanded, pointing a finger at the boy.

"No it's not," Sasuke told him and moved over, so he was above the white bed, grinning as the teacher got an uncomfortable look on his face. "Sit down."

"Just get down." He said tiredly with an exasperated sigh.

"Nope." Sasuke began with a smirk when the man twitched. "I'm training, it'd be pointless if I just stopped."

"So you've decided to be a shinobi?"

"Yesss," He hissed when the tanned man sat down on one of the uncomfortable Looking chairs. "When do I start at the academy."

"Here's a list over what your class will know as of the next two months, which is when I was hoping you'd be able to come back." He told Sasuke and slipped him a piece of paper, out of a pocket on his vest.

"Hmm..." Sasuke hummed as he glanced over the list. "Is this really everything not me learned over the course of four years?"

"Is doesn't seem like much does it?" Iruka smiled. "It's because we use the first few years helping those without shinobi parents to begin getting a feel for their chakra and some physical conditioning. Kids from shinobi parents usually joins up one to two years later."

"That's... I don't know." He finished lamely and flipped down onto the bed.

"Regardless, we have something to do today," Iruka-sensei told him with a smile. "I'm taking you out into Konoha, so you can familiarise yourself with the area.

"Really!? That's awesome!" Sasuke shouted like an overexcited monkey as he stood up in excitement. "I was dying here! Locked away like some contaminated thing!"

 _This is going to be awesome!_

* * *

He had spoken too soon. This village was creepy, like we stalk you in your sleep to kidnap you creepy. Not a we are a village dictated by an assassin, creepy. But a honest to god, we can and will stalk you if you have the ability to get glowing red eyes.

That old guy over there were making kissy faces at him...

"psst." He hissed at Iruka. "Why the hell is everyone looking at me like they want to have me for dinner?" He whispered.

"What!?" Iruka-sensei exclaimed quietly.

"Look at them!" He hissed and pulled the older man down to his level, forcefully turning his head towards the people staring at Sasuke with stars in their eyes.

"Uhhh..." Iruka hesitated.

"See!?" Sasuke shrieked at the man, releasing him. "What the hell is wrong with them!?"

"...They adore you." He explained quietly.

"What did I ever do for them!?"

Iruka-sensei sighed. "Nothing. But you're technically royalty, especially now that you're the only loyal Uchiha left."

"That's..." Sasuke trailed off when a store caught his attention. "Wait here." sasuke told the older man and walked in a straight line over the street, entering a colorful bakery. He returned again silently after a few minutes, munching on a chocolate bun, swinging around a paper bag.

"Here." He said as he withdrew a bun from the bag, throwing one to his teacher - who quickly grabbed it in surprise.

"So anything we missed on our little tour?" Sasuke asked as he looked expectantly at his dumbfounded teacher and took a bite of the sweet bread.

"Sorry." The man apologised, scratching his scar."It's just that you're so... different compared to your old self. I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed."

"Nah." Sasuke dismissed. "It's no problem, I'm a bit overwhelmed with Konoha and everything too. I'm just acting like it's really no big deal, I don't really think I've realised what's happening around me completely yet."

"Actually," Sasuke began before Iruka could reply. "Can I move into the clan compound? It belongs to me right?"

"It does belong to you," Iruka told him. "but are you sure that it's the best thing to do?"

"I need my space," Sasuke grinned, releasing a maniacal laugher. "A lot of space."

"I don't want to know why you just laughed like that." Iruka sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

So Sasuke continued to laugh like a cliché movie villain until they parted ways at the looming hospital building, all the while ignoring confused stares from the onlookers.

* * *

"All right, do your thing!" Rukia shouted as she raised her hand to slap Sasuke.

"Wha-" Sasuke shouted before he substituted himself across the clearing with a log they had prepared beforehand. "-t are you doing!?" He shouted as he appeared by a pile of neatly chopped pieces of wood and glared at the woman, whose hand hit the piece of wood he substituted with, making the log splinter into smaller parts upon contact. "And what the hell was with that super attack!?"

"It's good to be prepared!" She happily announced and gestured for him to return with a wave of her hand.

"And what about that super slap!? What If I didn't react fast enough!?"

"Then I'd have a reason to keep you in the hospital!" She grinned.

"Ha ha," he told her. "Very funny, you're obviously a good enough shinobi to hold back at the last second - you have to be, you wouldn't be a Jonin if you couldn't."

"Sure. We can say that, if it help you sleep at night." She grinned, and a shiver ran down Sasuke's back as he neared to demonic woman. "Next up! Clone jutsu!"

"...Right." He relented and moved his hands through the hands signs - Ram, snake and tiger holding his hands in the tiger seal as he did the jutsu. "Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

Smoke filled the area as three pale and slightly transparent illusionary clones poofed into existence, one of the clones legs gave out and it fell down to the ground as the two others began swaying.

 _Well that's embarrassing..._

"Try to put some more chakra into them." Rukia told him as she shooed the sickly clones to the side.

Poof.

This time three identical clones appeared around him. They looked around as the one closest to the poor clone on the ground, bend down and picked up the sick one, throwing it at the other sick ones - making all three clones fall silently to the ground, making them disappear in puffs of smoke- as the two others laughed at the sick ones misfortune.

"Good!" Rukia told him - ignoring the clones odd antics - and stuck her hand through the head of one of the newer - and meaner clones, ignoring Sasuke's wince. "Now to the Transformation jutsu!" She announced, as Sasuke quickly removed the three crazy clones.

"Why are we doing the jutsu the academy won't cover until next year? Not that I'm complaining! It's awesome to be prepared and have an extra advantage." He quickly corrected, it was honestly nice that Rukia actually taught him the three academy jutsu before he would learn them in the academy - the more jutsu and knowledge he had, the faster he could become the strongest shinobi out there.

"That's exactly why, an advantage," She told him with a sage smile. "I have a saying - you could almost say that it's my Nindo: Always be prepared, even if you have to prepare a fish for a kitten stuck in a tree."

"Now!" She barked, ruining the mood. "Transform!"

He yelped and quickly moved through the hand signs. "Transform!" Smoke surrounded him for a moment before revealing his new form.

"Hmm..." Rukia hummed as she rubbed her chin, taking in Sasuke's new form, he had transformed into an perfect replica of herself. The transformation had green eyes, her brown brown hair and a perfect replica of her red battle outfit. "Not bad for a first try, but... my eyes are more blueish, the hair length is wrong, I'm taller than that, the shape of my face is slightly different than that and my body is thinner."

"I got that much wrong!?" Sasuke shrieked, glancing down and immediately did the jutsu again.

Poof.

"Ah, that's better for my hair and worse for my eye shape."

Poof.

"Better now you need my head, height, eye color and really? What happened to my body? Do I look like that?"

Poof.

"Wow, just no. I mean look down for a second, I'm not a monkey. Get that tail away from my beautiful body."

Poof.

"You're messing with me. Tentacles don't really help..."

Poof.

"The body is right now, so get that horse face away from it..."

* * *

"Here's a fish." Rukia said as she danced around the white testing room, holding a plate with a unmoving fish and put it in front of the disgruntled kid. "Now you just need to go sushi on it."

"Sushi?" He asked and poked the greenish fish, but began making the required hand seals for the medical jutsu. His hands began glowing a dim crimson color, and Sasuke placed his hands on the fish with a consecrated frown. The scaley animal gave a slight gurgle after some time but went limp after a few seconds.

"You need more chakra." She commented and the boy glanced at her, before turning his attention back on the fish as his frown deepened. Directing more chakra into his hands, and the dim red chakra began glowing stronger until he stopped his chakra at the amount Sasuke guessed to be correct, and after a bit of time the Fish began heaving for air - or water.

"I did it!" The boy said in wonder to the fish and took it up into his hands, placing it into a water tank to the left of where he was standing. He immediately turned to her with a bright - almost silly smile, when the fish swam happily around in the water. "I did it," He finally told her. "I'm going to be a medic-nin, right?"

"Yes!" She replied in an equal delight and hugged his head, in a crushing grip. "Now we just need to continue torturi- I mean training you!"

"You are really a party pooper. You know that right?" He mumbled into her chest.

"Let's go get a treat, I'll pay!" She said, ignoring the boy's comment.

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke diary:**

 _Entry 1:_ The mind healer whom the Hokage - my new guardian assigned to me, told me to write for at least ten minutes in this stupid waste of time.

My time would be better spent training so that I can get my revenge, I've already spent too much time in the hospital being forced to 'rest' and 'heal my mind.'

The doctors at the hospital has delayed my reentering of the academy, making me wait even longer - a time _he_ won't use sitting still.

-Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

 **A/N: wow. The response to the first chapter blew me away, I didn't really think it would be that liked, and it's made me want to make Fracturing even better than I first planned.**

 **Thanks everyone.**

 **I'm split about whether Sasuke should refer to himself/herself as he or she... I've chosen to have Sasuke call herself he in this chapter, but I'd like to know what you people prefer her - him to call her I've confused myself now...**

 **Sasuke likes kids... not in a ewww way but in the awww so adorable way. Which is very hard for me to write, because I'm an evil demon who don't like kids.**

 **Another note is that I'm using different colored chakra for everyone, not the light blue the anime uses.**

 **Response section:**

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm happy that people are interested in medical nin Sasuke. (I've never read one where he's a med nin before (I think - my memory sucks ass))

And to pulpo801 - I have no idea what you wrote... but I put it in a translator so I'm going to respond based on what I got out of it. I don't really have plans for any romance, but the story is still young and my opinion might change.

 **-Kenjo Catze**


	3. Chapter 3: The academy

_Warning: I don't own Naruto. If I did then cake would be Naruto's favourite food. (dessert)_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The academy - a place where you beat up kids.**

* * *

"You're so ready! Go kick all their asses!" Rukia exclaimed dramatically as she pulled Sasuke into a crushing head hug.

"You're smothering me." He mumbled his voice muffled by the woman's breast.

"Alright," She told Sasuke and crouched down in front of him, so they were eye to eye and held her fist out. "Go show them what Sasuke 1.2 can do."

"Of cause!" Sasuke grinned as she bumped his own fist with her's and mock saluted, before turning away to walk into the academy building.

"I'm so proud!" She whispered and wiped away a fake tear, watching the dark red clad boy disappear into the large academy building as she ignored the strange stares she got her way

"Hmm... I feel like I forgot something..." She whispered to herself as she walked away from the academy building. "Meh. It's probably nothing."

She made a little jump before she vanished and a flock of pigeons flew into the sky, with frantic beats of their wings.

 _Now to the stalking..._

* * *

"Wait here."Iruka-sensei told him with an odd look and went inside the green painted door to class 5.B located in room 201.

 _Calm yourself_ , Sasuke instructed himself with a deep breath, closing his eyes. _You'll be fine._

"SILENCE!"

Sasuke jumped up onto the roof in surprise when a loud shout, which sounded oddly like Iruka-sensei came from the door - which was almost thrown off its hinges - with a screech.

"Holy..." He breathed, and slowed the flow of chakra from his hands and feet until he could slip down from the ceiling, he landed on the spotted floor with a soft thud.

"Ready?" Iruka sensei suddenly asked Sasuke with an amused smile as he appeared in front of the teen, who jumped into the air and up on the ceiling - again - in shock.

"Don't do that again. Please," Sasuke breathed as he moved down to the floor again, holding a hand to his dark grey shirt, above his heart. "My poor fragile heart can't take it."

Iruka laughed, rubbing his scar.

"Well the class already know of your situation, so this should run smoothly." Iruka told him, putting a hand on his shoulder before he turned around and opened the door dramatically as he entered the kids quiet murmurs.

Taking a breath, Sasuke followed the man.

All the chatter instantly stopped as Sasuke entered the large class room, and a mass of heads, turned towards the boy instantly. Taking a deep breath Sasuke did his best impression of a confident smile, as he waved awkwardly.

The classroom had the students sitting on an angle, enabling the students to see the blackboard no matter where they were sitting - which meant that they could also see him.

"Sasuke-kun!" A squeal came from the mass of different coloured heads and Sasuke's eyes quickly zeroed in on a blonde ponytail and sparkling blue eyes.

"Ino-san," He greeted with a wave and unfocused his eyes, making his vision slightly blurred, _Aha_. He thought as a mass of pink caught his sight. "And Sakura-san."

The girl turned red of embarrassment and hid her face inside her shirt, as he focused his eyes again.

"Well everyone you know who this is," Iruka said as he placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "But as I've told you all, Sasuke don't know you, so we'll do a round of where you tell him your name and a bit about yourself. Sasuke you can start."

"Right," Sasuke said awkwardly and decided to stare down the cute redheaded, blushing girl who looked easily intimidated. _What's with these kids bloodflow?_

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke 1.2, I like food with tomatoes, I also like running, art and the color red."

After his small introduction the kids began slowly moving though their names and likes, until the last student named Aburame Shino told him that he liked bugs and Iruka-sensei told Sasuke to take a place besides said bug loving boy.

The teacher turned to the blackboard and he instructed them to move to page 56 in the shinobi history book.

"Hey." A quiet voice said when he pulled up on the correct page in the dull green book, as the voice's owner poked him on the shoulder.

Looking over his shoulder, Sasuke looked at the pineapple like boy sitting a level above him. "Hi."

"We were told you lost your memory." The kid - Shikamaru drawled lazily as he leaned on his hand.

"Yup, that I did," He said with a smile, winking.

"Sounds troublesome..."

"Well I can't really say I miss my old life." Sasuke told him, and he actually missed his old life, his family, the fact that he wasn't a person whom people would want to kidnap, his phone and his sweet Spock, a Northern alligator lizard.

"I guess you can't miss what you don't remember. I'm Nara Shikamaru and this is Akimichi Chouji." Shikamaru said and gestured to the chubby kid eating from a bag of chips, Chouji was sitting to the boys right.

"I'm Sasuke 1.2," Sasuke greeted in return. "It's nice to meet you."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but was interrupted as a small and painful object smashed into the his cheek.

"Pay attention!" Iruka barked as the class silently laughed at their misfortune.

* * *

"What are we doing?" Sasuke asked as he followed quietly after Shikamaru as the kid lazily sauntered out to a large dusty area covered in white shapes from circles to triangles, where the whole class began gathering around one of the circles.

"It's physical training now, and we have sparing because it's wednesday. Didn't you get the schedule?"

"... There is a schedule!" Sasuke exclaimed as he stopped in following the other kid. "I knew it!"

* * *

Shikamaru looked out the corner of his eyes as he regarded the muttering Uchiha, the other boy was quietly raving about people never giving him all the information, as his hand flew around him in agitated motions and Shikamaru couldn't help but compare the newer Sasuke (Sasuke 1.2) to the old one - the one he was used to.

There was no wondering about why the whole class became silent when the boy had entered their classroom, earlier this day. Everything about the new Sasuke had practically screamed 'I'm happy and enjoy life, I'm a bit nervous though' in their faces, and his classmates had been whispering about the last Uchiha's new appearance since he arrived.

Sasuke's whole demeanour had done a 180 and gone from the dark and broody boy who was always wearing a large Uchiha fan on his back, to a bright and practically glowing boy dressed out in a open dark red leather jacket, with a grey shirt underneath and Dark red leather pants tucked into black boots and secured with a strong black belt, with pouches which looked suspiciously like medical kits fastened to it - with only a small Uchiha fan on each of his shoulders.

'Sometimes doing the right thing requires doing something that looks to be a bad thing.' Shikamaru's dad had told him when the younger Nara had asked why an Yamanaka hadn't seen to the Uchiha's mind, to return his memories.

Shikamaru understood now, as he looked at the boy who was dramatically panicking over having to fight someone - having the chance to hurt someone, and about how he had never fought anyone and would get his ass kicked - painfully. Now that he could see a different personality inside Sasuke's body, it became painfully obvious how far off the cliff Sasuke's mind had been.

"Hey," Sasuke said - when he had calmed down - and poked Shikamaru in the arm. "You zoned out for a moment there."

"Shika does that sometimes." Chouji said between his munching on chips.

"Ah." He said, and turned his gaze out to the sparring area as Iruka-sensei arrived.

"You're part of the Akamichi clan, right?" Sasuke asked Chouji. "I love the basis of your clan jutsu, the whole becoming a giant thing, is so cool." He continued when Chouji crunched a few chips with a hum.

"Really?"

"Yesss," the Uchiha hissed. "It's really awesome, and has so many different possibilities. The fact that you'll be able to enlarge yourself means that you'll be able to travel really fast, not stealthy, but fast."

"I need everyone to quiet down," Iruka-sensei told the class. "Amari Mao and Yamanaka Ino, you'll start."

* * *

 _Plz don't take me!_ Sasuke mentally begged the teacher as he declared Aburame Shino the winner of a spar against the kid with the dog.

"Uchiha Sasuke and-" Iruka-sensei began, looking at a list of students as Sasuke cried quietly inside, but was interrupted by an overeager voice.

"Me! I'll fight the Teme!" A small and cute boy shouted, as he pushed his way through a mass of children and into the white ring painted on the dry ground.

 _Oh my God, this kid is cute..._ Sasuke thought as the kid breathed deeply. The boy had spiky blonde hair, deep blue eyes and the cutest whisker-like marks on his cheeks, three on each side. The kid was also wearing a pair of goggles in his hair and the most horrifying blue and bright orange outfit, Sasuke ever had the chance to lay his eyes on.

 _So cute, but so rude!_

"Naruto! Your late!" Iruka-sensei exclaimed. "You can't just barge in and demand to spar with Sasuke!"

So this was Naruto, he certainly was hostile if his sweet nickname was anything to go by.

"But now that you're here, why not?" Iruka-sensei relented as the boy's face was washed over with the most adorable and miserable face in existence. "Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki! Come to the ring."

"Can I withdraw?" Sasuke asked as he put his hand up. He really didn't want to get his ass beaten up by the orange kid, so if he could just withdraw...

"Sorry Sasuke, but withdrawing isn't allowed anymore after some students always withdrew when facing certain students." Iruka apologised and instructed them to make the Seal of Confrontation, when Naruto and Sasuke got into position.

Placing his hand in the seal - he had seen several times before his own spar, Sasuke frowned when the blonde boy refused to make the hand sign.

"Naruto," Iruka-sensei growled. "You need to do the seal."

The boy grumbled but complied with a defiant snarl when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the boys unwillingness.

"On three." Iruka explained as he raised his arm, and Sasuke took deep breath to calm himself, moving into one of the fighting stances from his Taijutsu book.

"One."

 _Relax..._

"Two."

 _Focus..._

"Three!"

 _Now!_

Pulling up his leg and swinging it out, Sasuke hit the orange clad boy in his stomach, as he ran, aiming for the dark haired boy's face with a punch. Quickly shifting his legs with a swirl Sasuke moved his other leg towards the boy, who was holding his stomach in pain, hoping to catch him before he could recover from the kick Naruto had all but ran into. Releasing a quiet battle cry Sasuke dove his boot towards the cute blondes face, silently apologising for the facial damage he was going to create. But was stopped as a hand closed around his ankle, a few centimeters away from burning blue eyes.

Before he could do anything, Sasuke had his leg twisted around by the smirking boy and was practically _slammed_ into the ground, the impact raising a cloud of dust.

Gitting his teeth to hold back a scream, Sasuke kicked out with his free leg - using the other boys hold on his ankle against him - sweeping him of his feet in a quick spin, making the blonde release his hold and shoved himself away from the surprised boy. Rolling into a crouching position, Sasuke sprang out, intending to kick the boy out of the ring. But Naruto reacted before he could get to him, and moved to his feet in a burst of inhuman speed, heading for Sasuke with his abnormal acceleration and a fist positioned to hit Sasuke square in the face.

And ran right past Sasuke's line of vision, not even hitting him.

Freezing in surprise, Sasuke gasped as pain sprang out from his back, forcing him down to his knees and hands in a quick attack from the back.

"Ha! Take that." The boy cheered behind him.

Sasuke growled and rolled away when a foot slipped into his line of vision, making sure to stay in for the line with a quick and slightly blurry glance. Sasuke moved both his legs around the blonde's leg closest to where he was lying, locking it in place. Raising his upper body up with his arms, Sasuke used all his strength and threw himself to the side with a roll, making the blonde boy fall onto him with a scream. Pushing his arms in front of him, Sasuke gripped the boy's surprised face and pushed him to the side.

Taking his chance, Sasuke tugged at his legs again - catching Naruto's other leg in the hold while he was at it, causing the boy to struggle when Sasuke moved him along the ground. Taking his chance Sasuke pushed himself on top of the boy, and held the blonde's frantically moving hands above his head.

It took ten seconds.

"Give-" Sasuke wheezed, tightening his hold on the boy's legs and hands. "-up?"

"Never." The boy growled and smashed his forehead into Sasuke's nose, making the mentally older boy rear back onto his back with a pained yelp. The blonde leaped at him, and Sasuke rolled away, pushing himself up on all four, as the boy crashed into the ground, kicking up dust and blocking Sasuke's blurry vision even more.

Sasuke fell down onto his stomach when something swept him of his feet - or feet and hands, making him stumble down to the ground. Not wasting any time, the blonde sprang from the dust cloud and moved over Sasuke's tired body and crouched above the downed boy, holding him in place with a hand to the panting boy chest, smirking triumphantly.

 _Holy fuck._

"Winner," Iruka-sensei stopped his sentence for a moment before continuing. "Uzumaki Naruto."

With the acknowledgement of his win, Naruto leaped up with a whoop and began dancing some strange victory dance, like he hadn't just fought a battle and a half.

"What!?" A female member of the class, screamed in protest. "There's no way Sasuke-kun would lose to the dead last!"

 _What the Fuck!?_ Sasuke thought, tilting his head to look as several kids began voicing their opinions about his loss.

He had known that Sasuke was popular, but this was plain bullying - a bullying taking place because, not him apparently was unreachable hottie number one in this assassin training school.

Turning his head with a growl, Sasuke looked over to the teacher who was practically ignoring the commotion as he focused on his student list. _And I was worried about being bullied by Naruto, you fuck. And why the hell didn't you stop the stupidly painful fight when it became obvious that he had the freaking advantage!?_

Pushing himself of the ground with his unstable limbs, Sasuke held out his slightly shaking hand - not that he would admit it - to the blonde boy. Naruto paused in his weird swaying and looked at him with a confused expression, tilting his head in a cute manner. "What?" He asked.

"I think- we do- the Seal of Reconciliation now." Sasuke told him with a tense smile, breathing heavily and moved his fingers into the right position for the seal, when Naruto curiously put his fingers in his hand.

"You totally kicked my ass," Sasuke told him and moved his lips into the most realistic grin he could muster.

"I really did it!" The boy breathed, his eyes shining, as they pulled their hands away.

"This is going to hurt for a while..." Sasuke muttered turning away and moved over to the lazy and chubby kid, after giving the blonde a - not - shaking pat on his back.

"Alright," Iruka interrupted. "Let's get onto the next spar."

* * *

Rukia hummed merrily as she watched the Kyuubi kid interrupt Iruka's announcing, demanding to fight Sasuke.

"Kick his ass." She commanded as her sweet little student visibly focused when Iruka-san began counting down. She held her breath as Sasuke's - sloppy - kick was gapped by the kid, and was smashed into the ground.

"Ouch," She winced as her eyes widened, when her student got tricked by an easy feint. "Hell yeah!" She whispered as Sasuke rolled the boy around and held him down to the ground.

She winced again when the Kyuubi kid got her student with a move that had thousands of painfully obvious holes, before getting held down to the ground. "That's what I forgot," She said out loud in wonder. "Taijutsu."

"Oops."

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke's diary:**

 _Entry 2:_ I finally returned to the academy today, we had sparring sessions, and I fought Aburame Shino - I won as expected, they have nothing on _him_ after all.

Everyone is looking at me with those damned pitying eyes.

I wish they would stop.

-Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

 **A/N: I had Sasuke lose... *laughs***

 **I've noticed that the girls in a lot of manga/anime, hits the male characters - repeatedly. I don't know if it's some cultural thing or what it is. Sakura hits Naruto and Tsunade smacks Jiraiya trough walls in the series, many times. The vibe I got was that this behaviour is normal and something as bullying isn't that known either, so the grownups in the series doesn't really stop it. This is a behaviour that Sasuke isn't going to agree with...**

* * *

 **Response section:**

Thank you to everyone who gave a review for Chapter 2!

To Ann Cantell: what do you mean Sakura has something planned?

For those who's been asking for a pairing... it's unlikely that Sasuke will return any feelings if some around his age -like Naruto - began to like him. Sasuke is mentally older than those he'll be calling his peers, and a Naruto/Sasuke pairing - or any other pairing with Sasuke in it - won't happen for a long time. (That won't stop me from torturing the characters)

Oh, and another note. The person who got shoved into Sasuke isn't a SI... you can call him a heavily modified SI but then again all my oc's - even the villains, has some small part of me in them.

 **Hope you enjoyed the chappie!**

 **-Kenjo Catze**


	4. Chapter 4: Sick Clones

_I don't own Naruto. If I did then I would probably have eaten a Naruto cake once in my life, at least._

* * *

 **Chapter 4: sick clones.**

* * *

"This," Rukia said and gestured to the white haired teen with round glasses. He was wearing the traditional doctor coat for genin assigned to the hospital. The boy smiled from his seat with a creepy ass smile, and waved at him. "Is Yakushi Kabuto, and this is my sweet student Uchiha Sasuke." She said and waved her hand to where she had dumped him opposite of the light haired boy. "The two of you are going to be working together on your shifts for the next couple of days, maybe even longer, so get to know each other!" She told them with an enthusiastic clap of her hands.

And disappeared from the cafeteria in a pink cloud of smoke, leaving them staring awkwardly at the small wisp of strangely colored smoke.

"Err hey. Did Rukia give you our patient schedule because she seems to have conveniently forgotten to give me mine." Sasuke asked the other -creepy- boy as he scratched at the wooden table with his nails.

"She did," Kabuto told him, still smiling as he put his small medical bag up on the table and took a piece of paper from it. "We're taking some shifts on floor 6 today." He paused and slid the list over in Sasuke's direction. "Rukia-san told me you don't have really any lead patient caring experience?"

"No," Sasuke rubbed his face with a sigh, as he glanced over the names. "She mainly focused on actually being able to find the injury and actually healing it, not how to be a nurse."

Kabuto made a sound as he looked at a tablet he had in his bag. "The first patient we've been assigned to is Mari Tsuna she has some second degree burns. She had an accident with a fellow genin a few days ago and got burned by a fire jutsu, and there might be a risk that she could develop chakra poisoning too."

"Ouch," Sasuke said with a wince as they picked up their things and began to leave the cafeteria. "What did her training partner do with that fire jutsu? he must have pumped some chakra into it to give her a risk of cp."

"It doesn't say..." Kabuto told him and began studying the contents about her hospitalization, before giving it over to Sasuke.

"We've been getting more and more people with chakra poisoning, haven't we?" Sasuke mused as he looked through the different details. "It's kind of odd."

"Yes," Kabuto said, his face unreadable. "It is."

"Anyway, I'm actually kinda surprised," Kabuto suddenly said as they moved through the busy hospital hallways. Nurses and doctors were rushing past them as they moved around the hurried doctors movements. "You never seemed like the doctor type, you've been hell bent on avenging your clan since I first meet you, but now you're all... well peaceful."

Sasuke sighed. "Don't tell me that you knew me, and that no one told you that I lost my memory..."

"Ah," Kabuto said and looked sheepish - _fake_ Something inside him growls. "I heard, but assumed that they had an Yamanaka look at your condition. But they didn't?" the white haired boy asked, his eyes studying him.

"They didn't," Sasuke confirmed. "Not that I really can't complain, I don't really want to die."

"Sorry for your loss?" Sasuke eventually said, when Kabuto's face morphed into a strange expression and didn't reply. "Since the me you knew is technically dead, kinda-ish dead."

"It's," The older boy paused and looked at their destination. "It's alright."

* * *

"How," Sasuke ducked under a kick from Rukia and rolled away when she shifted position and kicked out with her other leg. "Did it go?" She finished, as Sasuke stood up a decent distance away from her.

They were sparing in his personal training ground - and didn't that have a nice ring to it - his training area had a field with grass and a small forest which was decorated with hammock tied to the trees. They were out here hoping to improve his defensive abilities and dodging, but it was really just Rukia hoping to borrow him as her personal punching bag.

"Fine." He grunted, jumping up to kick Rukia in her grinning face, deciding to go on some offensive. She moved around him like a leaf in the wind, and he hit the empty air. "Can you stop dodging and parry or something instead? Make contact demon!"

"But you're not even supposed to be attacking!" She said cheerily and swiped his leg out of the air before he could land, and threw him over her shoulder with a flick of her hand. "So how did it go?" She repeated as he rolled along the ground and got caught in one of his hammocks - a green one. he struggled in it before throwing himself out of the colorful containment, landing in a crouch.

"It was fine, there wasn't really any problems except a Jonin on the second day who tried to escape the hospital!" Sasuke screamed as he sprinted away from Rukia, who was hot on his heels, by jumping over a hammock and twisting around to the tree it was tied to. He jumped up, catching the bark with his feet and ran up the trunk.

"How was your mission?!" Sasuke screeched, as Rukia jumped after him and landed on the tree, creating a little crater.

"Meh. It was nothing special, no one even needed healing," She whined, and sprung after Sasuke when he jumped off the tree to another one, sticking himself to the bark with his hands. "And the client kept looking at me with his lecherous eyes as he literally drooled all over himself. It was pretty funny the way he squealed when the mission finally was over and I threw a kunai between his legs, he wasn't hurt of course, but it was so satisfactorily." she told him and crashed into the new tree as he jumped away. The tree's trunk creaked as she plowed through it, making a hole and she landed gracefully on another tree. he winced and pulled out some splinters in her elbow. "Ouch. I think I might have gotten a bit too excited..."

"You think!?" Sasuke shouted as he jumped down behind a red hammock. He drew in a sharp breath and jumped into the air with a spin. He spun into a purple hammock, making it spin around for a few seconds before he dropped down onto the grass. He rolled away from the hammock, ignoring the painful thistle that he was sure he had gotten rid of, and rolled over into a crouch.

And then he bolted.

"Come on Sasuke-kun!" Rukia pouted and jumped down from the tree. "You're not supposed to run away, this is evasion training - not run away training."

"You don't hold back! And you know that I'm allergic to pain!" Sasuke shouted back, his muscles tensing as he heard the ground crack behind him. Not daring to look back, Sasuke pulled out a seal, throwing it on the ground as he silently apologised for the damage they were doing to his awesome training ground.

"Ah but Sasuke," She whispered in his ear, slipping an arm around his shoulders as he froze. "It's better to experience these things in a controlled environment, isn't it?" She finished and disappeared.

 _No_ , Sasuke thought in dread as a sizzling sound made him look down to where a tag was sticking to his chest. _Not again..._

Boom!

"Gah!" Sasuke shouted as the tag went off and exploded in bright pink sparkles splattered all over him and a wave of horrible smells oozed out around him making him gag.

"Don't be so obvious!" Rukia shouted and laughed at him, holding her stomach. "Try throwing it at me next time!"

"I'd do that if you actually taught me how to do it!" He shrieked back, trying spit the pink glitter, which had gotten into his mouth out. "It's not like the teacher has the time to focus on me all the time!"

"And you've been driving me into the ground with everything except how to throw kunai and shuriken!" He shouted and pulled out a kunai, accidentally nicking himself on the blade and threw it at the laughing woman in anger. "And how does cooking help me survive as a shinobi?"

"But your cooking is so delicious!" Rukia grinned, wiping away a tear as the kunai fell pitifully to the ground a few meters away from the boy who was angrily licking his finger. "I think your time is better spend cooking anyway, and it would be a waste not to make all those fantastic recipe ideas you have. Like that meat on bread thing."

 _Let's try and forget that none of the things I make are my recipes, but food from different cultures..._

"Weren't she the one preaching about being prepared." Sasuke muttered walking over to Rukia, as he tried to wipe pink glitter of his clothes. Giving up, Sasuke took his jacket off and threw it at his surprised mentor as he threw down a smoke pellet.

"Oh nice," Rukia complemented when she hastily caught the jacket and slowly clapped her hands, looking at the cloud of smoke. "I'm kinda proud." She grinned as her hands blurred when Sasuke coughed from her right.

Sasuke shrieked in surprise as a kunai went through the tree in front of him, before landing in the one he was leaning against right besides his head, throwing a few splinters into his face.

"This is abuse! Stop bullying my trees!" Sasuke hissed as he pulled out the kunai and hugged his tree as he trew the kunai away.

"You know what would be great now?" Rukia announced as she jogged over to him, and carefully pried him away from his tree hugging. "Five laps around the training ground!"

"No!" He refused and lashed onto the tree again, putting chakra into his palms.

* * *

"Why the long face?" Sasuke asked the chest fallen boy sitting outside the academy building on a swing, looking like someone threw a kunai through his puppy.

"What?" Naruto asked, as he stopped swinging the swing.

"Why do you look so down? Did something happen?" He asked, sitting down on the grass opposite of the occupied swing.

Naruto was usually so happy and hyper to the point that it got annoying with all his shouting and being late, but that might just be because Sasuke was a control freak, who took tardiness as a personal insult… The other boys pranks were awesome though, Sasuke really liked the infamous paint bomb prank from a few weeks ago. Sasuke had been caught in it too - getting the rainbows colours thrown all over him, ruining his clothes, but Sasuke was rich so that really wasn't a problem - and he had really enjoyed seeing the misery on everyone's faces, as they looked at their rainbow appearance.

"Why do you care!?" The blonde boy spat, his face briefly morphing into an ugly expression and quickly looked away, his eyes down cast.

"Because someone has to." Sasuke told him with a small smile and zipped open his backpack, taking out a light chocolate bar, breaking of a decently sized piece and held it out for the depressed boy. "Here, take this."

The blonde boy glanced in his direction, his eyes flashing to the lump, but quickly turned away again.

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked as he looked away.

"Oh Yeah," Sasuke winced and held some sparkling pinkish hair in front of his eyes. "I wanted to look like Sakura-chan, but as you can see, it didn't really go all that well "

Naruto chuckled a bit at his misfortune.

"Come on, it's not poisoned. But eating chocolate always helps when you're feeling down." Sasuke said waved the chocolate chunk in front of the sad boys face.

"Okay." The boy choked, taking the piece as his eyes began watering.

"Want to tell me what's wrong?" Sasuke asked, breaking of a price of his chocolate for himself.

"I failed the exam..." he mumbled into his chocolate and Sasuke almost missed it.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed. "What exam?"

"The genin exam..."

Some teachers had actually asked Sasuke if he wanted to take the exam earlier too. Sasuke had refused -several times when they kept bugging him about it.

"You took the exam early? Wow, not everyone is allowed to do that. How did you fail?"

They hadn't even covered all the jutsus required to become genin in the academy yet. How had the other boy learned it? he was an orphan named after the Uzumaki clan from what Sasuke had heard, and they wouldn't give special training to a random boy named in honor of an instinkt clan.

Unless...

Unless the boy actually was from the Uzumaki clan…

"I couldn't do the clone jutsu..." Naruto told him, bowing his head.

"Why couldn't you do the jutsu?"

"I don't know..." the boy groaned.

"Can you show me?" Sasuke asked as he moved up to his feet, deciding to help the other boy.

"Alright..." Naruto jumped of the swing and did the seals after having moved away from the swing - and potential people who could have seen him flunk at the jutsu. "Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

Giant bursts of smoke sprang from thin air - signaling the waste of chakra involved in the jutsu, and Sasuke squinted through the haze of smoke-like chakra. "So how did you get to take the test early?" Sasuke asked with a cough as they waited for the smoke to thin out.

"I asked Jiji dattebayo!" Naruto said, his mood lifting.

"Jiji?" Sasuke asked as he waved some chakra smoke away from his face. _Definitely too much chakra..._

"Wow." Sasuke remarked when the smoke finally disappeared. The clones were sick, like his own first try, except that they weren't transparent, they were green. One of them fell down and puked illusionary vomit on the ground, as the two other burst into smoke, disappearing.

"Wow," He repeated as he carefully stepped on the head of one clone, frowning when his foot was meet with a current of chakra, rotating around the illusions body, making it harder to stomp through it's head.

"What?" Naruto asked with a cute til of his head.

"This is way too much chakra," _and the others must have dispelled of chakra overload..._ "Try with less chakra."

"What's catra?" The boy asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Err," Sasuke opened his mouth and closed it in surprise. "Its cha-kra and it's the energy you do jutsu with?"

"Okay! Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, and coughed when smoke filled the area again.

"Ohhh... that's better," Sasuke commented as he looked at the four clones, and silently turned his eyes red.

"What happened to your eyes dattebayo?" Naruto asked in surprise as he looked at the other boys crimson eyes.

"What?" Sasuke asked turning his eyes from the chakra overloaded clones to the curious boy.

"Your eyes," the blonde boy said, pointing a finger at Sasuke's head. "They're freaky."

"Oh, it's a bloodline. try the jutsu again."

"What's a bloodline?" He asked and quickly dispelled the clones with a swift burst of chakra, and created new clones when Sasuke shrugged his shoulders with a Meh. "Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

"Why can't I do it!?" Naruto growled, clawing at his hair when he saw the sick clones fall onto the grassy ground.

 _How odd… the clones are still loaded with chakra - that's why they're sick, but why haven't we made any progress…?_ "Did you remember to put less chakra into them?" he asked, looking for any abnormalities in the blondes chakra pathway. _Nothing…_

"Of course I did!"

"Try making more."

"More?" Naruto asked, Fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket. "But Mizuki-sensei said I wasn't allowed to make more than three."

"Well Mizuki is an idiot." Sasuke drawled, narrowing his eyes. _Are they purposely hindering his education? That makes no sense..._

His chakra potency pointed Naruto in the direction of being an half blooded Uzumaki - at least, Naruto didn't have the famous red Uzumaki hair, so there was no chance he was a 'pure' Uzumaki. The Uzumaki had strong life force which boosted their physical energy, or it was the other way around, but information about the clan's abilities had been lost through time. the only thing certain was their sealing techniques, longevity and their potent chakra…

There was no way the teachers would ruin a real Uzumaki's education, no matter how much they disliked him...

"All right! Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and the small clearing was filled with more compact smoke explosions, but there were more than three. A lot more, the whole area was filled with illusions standing mashed up against each other, sticking out of trees and piling on each other.

There had to be at least a thousand - at least.

"Talk about quantity over quality..." Sasuke murmured, shocked as he moved out of a slightly ill looking clone. "Though I'd say quality goes hand in hand with quantity here..."

 _And the mental strain he must be experiencing from having made so many clones…_

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked the frozen boy.

"I DID IT! Dattebayo!" Naruto Shouted, jumping into the air with a cheer- and out of a clone that had been inside his body. "One step closer to hokage!" He cheered doing the strange dance Sasuke now recognised as the boy's victory dance - his clones copying him, he paused looking at Sasuke. "Why did it work this time?"

"It seems like you overloaded your chakra into the clones making them explode, right after you made them. You put too much chakra into each clone and since you couldn't make them using less, I made you distribute the chakra between more clones. By making more clones with the same amount of chakra, you essentially spreads the chakra between the clones, this makes it so that they don't overlo-"

"-I don't understand." Naruto interrupted as Sasuke dispelled the clones with a burst of his chakra, tilting his head as he squinted his eyes - making him look like a fox.

"Right," Sasuke said with a frown as he thought about how he could make it easier to understand. "If you take a can of water to symbolize your chakra-" Sasuke began as he broke a dead looking branch of one of the trees surrounding them, and swiftly drew a large see-through can filled with water, making the funny-looking symbols for the word chakra over the drawing. "Then we have small cups for each of the clones..." he drew three small cups beside the can as naruto sat down in front of the drawing, and wrote clones above the cups.

"I don't get it." Naruto said as he leaned over the drawing, scratching his hair.

"Well I'm not done yet." Sasuke told him as he poked the boy with the stick after drawing an arrow from the water tank to the cups - earning him a disgruntled 'Hey!'

"You can see that there's more water than space in the three cups?" He asked as he stabbed the stick into the water and cups respectively. At the boy's focused nod, Sasuke continued. "That means that the cups get too much water and then they burst, so when you take more cups-"

"Then the clones don't burst because there's more cups between the water!" Naruto exclaimed, beaming as Sasuke began drawing more cups on the ground.

"Exactly," Sasuke confirmed with a grin, and stopped drawing the cups. "It seems like your problem is control. Try using your chakra to stick to a surface - like a tree - it really helps with control." Sasuke told him as he began walking up a tree.

Naruto's eyes widened comically as his jaw dropped. "How do I do that!?"

"just put some chakra into your feet," Sasuke told him and paled when the boy ran at the tree. "Not like that!" He shouted when the boy got blasted of the tree and landed painfully on the ground with his face first.

"Haaa!" The boy shouted as he jumped to his feet and charged the tree again.

"Stop!" Sasuke growled and jumped down in front of the tree, making Naruto crash into him - painfully.

 _Well that was a bad idea..._

"You lie on the ground and walk up the trunk," Sasuke slowly told him, sitting up. "Slowly, so that you don't get blasted off again."

"Alright." Naruto said as he sat up.

"Try and practice," Sasuke told him as Naruto rubbed his head to remove his headache. "You know what? I'll give you a book on advanced chakra control I don't need anymore."

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke's diary:**

 _Entry 3:_ It's annoying how the mind healer keeps insisting that I write in this stupid book, she even painted it pink, she must be mocking me.

She keeps saying that nothing would have changed if I would have been stronger, that Itachi was just too good, and that my ambition is not realistic.

I hate people like her.

She's infuriating, she keeps insisting that I need to change my ways, that what I'm doing is damaging for my health and my environment.

Who cares if it's damaging, that means nothing when he's still alive. I live to kill him, I don't care if others think I need help, the only help I'd ever need is training. So instead of always focusing on my mental health as they say, why don't they give me the means to get the power I need to kill him.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I'm hungry.**

 **Thank you to everyone who's favourited, followed and reviewed Fracturing! You makes me want up of my roof, but then I'd die. So I'll just say thanks.**

 **Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4.**

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **-Kenjo Catze.**


	5. Chapter 5: Crazy

_Warning: I don't own Naruto. If I did... ohh if I did..._

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Crazy**

* * *

 _Here he comes!_

Sprinting forwards, Sasuke reached out with his right hand and pulled on the other boys furry collar before he could reach him.

"Wha!"

Sasuke ignored the boys cry and jumped with a little spin, landing on the boy's back. Pushing chakra into his feet, Sasuke used his weight to push the boy to the ground as he silently placed a hand on his neck and a foot on the ground.

Kiba gave a low growl and Akamaru yipped from the sidelines in agitation as the brown haired boy tried to get up. Only to stop when Sasuke applied a bit of pressure on his hand and foot on the dog boys back in warning as he ignored the cheers bursting from the audience. Looking up Sasuke met the eyes of Iruka who gave a nod, and declared Sasuke the winner.

"How the hell did you do that?" Kiba growled as Sasuke released him from his hold.

"I can't really tell you that..." Sasuke replied dryly, holding out his hand.

Taking the hand with a grunt, Kiba dusted himself off with a dog like shake - making some of the dirt land on Sasuke - _ugh disgusting_ \- and whistled lowly. Akamaru yipped as he ran over and jumped onto the boy's shoulder.

"It was a good spar." Sasuke told him with a smile, as they did the seal of Reconciliation.

"I almost had you too." Kiba told him, an accusing look in his eyes as the white puppy barked. "It almost feels like you cheated."

Sasuke frowned. "Like hell, I wouldn't cheat." _I totally would..._

"Yeah Yeah." The inuzuka grunted as they left the white sparring ring.

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been bad if the boy had questioned Sasuke's victory with Iruka. That would have resulted in a re-spar where Iruka would be watching over them closely, and then Sasuke would lose because he wouldn't he able to cheat...

Sasuke could win against most of the children from his class except those who specialised in taijutsu, and that was only because Sasuke had Rukia beat his ass on a weekly basis.

 _Who said that cheating is bad? Cheating is awesome and your body don't end up hurt when you cheat..._

"Hyuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka announced as he randomly withdrew Sasuke's name from a bag.

"Oh come on!" The dark haired boy whined, pointing at the boy with red marks on his cheeks. "I just spared with Kiba!"

"Tough luck," Shikamaru commented, patting him on the back. "Someone has to fight twice when Naruto is gone."

"Right..." _Damn it Naruto..._

Sasuke walked out of the group of students to face the pale eyed girl as he hung his head in defeat. Sasuke made the traditional seal as he mentally prepared himself to get his ass kicked.

But Sasuke breathed a bit more freely, knowing that the Hyuga heiress was not allowed to use the full potential of the gentle fist, when sparring in the academy.

Sasuke had seen - experienced first hand the effects of the Hyuga clan's nintaijutsu, it was very painful.

Rukia had been called in to help with a skirmish between two Byakugan wielders. Not only had they closed most of each others tenketsu points, they had also attacked each other's organs directly in the heat of their battle. So they needed medical help before they bleed out. The idiots.

And Rukia, the nice and pleasant teacher she was, brought Sasuke out to look at the grumpy Hyuga's. Who immediately thought they were mocking them, because apparently the Uchiha clan and Hyuuga clan had been rivals since ancient times.

Yay.

They had refused to let Sasuke look at them with his glowing hands of magical healing, but Rukia had been able pull rank on them and force the two proud Chunin to let Sasuke look at the least injured one.

The twitchy one - who was least damaged so it was Sasuke's job to take care of him - had lashed out when Sasuke had touched a sore spot as he was diagnosing the man. The man had hit him in his arm, painfully paralyzing it for a few hours.

So Sasuke was really happy that the small Hyuga girl wasn't allowed to use the gentle fist to attack tenketsu, she was still allowed to attack pressure points though...

 _Fuck my life... This is going to hurt. Pain is bad, pain hurts._

"Begin!" Iruka said announcing the being of their spar, as the creepy girls from his class began cheering on him.

Not wasting any time when the girl remained unmoving Sasuke rushed in, in the hopes of catching the pale eyed girl off guard. Sasuke grabbed the girl's arms as he swung himself towards the ground. The girl's eyes widened in shock as Sasuke braced himself for impact and twisted around so that Hinata was under him when they hit. Holding Hinata's arms above her head, Sasuke slipped his legs under her and sat down on her, bending her back in an awkward and probably painful position.

 _Feel my pain!_ Sasuke mentally screeched with a cheer at the girl's stunned expression. He had been victim of this move so many times in the past before getting dumped in this body. His older sister always did this to him, and oh was it sweet finally being able to do it to someone else.

"H-h-how?" She stuttered cutely, eyes wide.

"Well. You didn't really move," Sasuke told her as he wiggled her hands a bit. "Do you give up?"

"I-I" Hinata stuttered as water began gathering in her eyes.

 _Shit!_ Sasuke thought desperately as he quickly wiggled his legs out from under her, letting her back fall down into a more natural position. _Don't cry!_

"Winner Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka announced as a tear slid down from the girl's eye.

Quickly removing himself from the girl, Sasuke held out his hand to the dark haired girl nervously. "Need a hand?"

"Th-tha-thank y-you." She grabbed his hand in a trembling grip, and Sasuke pulled her up to her feet.

"break time!" The teacher told them when they did the traditional sparing seal and the girl fled immediately, leaving Sasuke standing on the dusty ground in dismay.

* * *

"Hmm..." Sasuke hummed with a tilt of his head as he watched the pale eyed girl eat alone, she was sitting on a bench with her lunch balanced on her knees as she ate in the shade of one of the strange purplish trees.

 _Meh._ He thought as he coughed slightly, I must be getting a cold, and packed his lunch back into his red bag. Rising to his feet, Sasuke headed straight for the girl. "Hey," he said when he came within hearing distance of her. "Mind if I sit here?"

The girl's head snapped up and her eyes widened as she saw him. "I-I," she took a deep breath and blushed in embarrassment. "Y-you can sit h-here."

"So why didn't you attack me earlier?" Sasuke asked her as he slipped into the space besides her, opening his backpack to take out his lunch. Dumping the red backpack on the ground besides the wooden bench, Sasuke took a sandwich from his lunch bag. "You could have kicked my ass with no problem at all, but you just stood there."

"I-I don't like f-fighting." The girl told him with a strained smile, as she looked down at her fancy bento.

"Why become a shinobi then?" Sasuke asked with a tilt of his head as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She didn't reply.

"I see," Sasuke said and took a bite of his chicken sandwich - and Holy shit he would have died if this world didn't have chicken. "I don't really like fighting either." He admitted.

"Y-you don't?"

"Nah," He shrugged. "But I have to, because if I don't..."the silent _'Because if I don't, then I'll die, get kidnapped or something worse, like not being able to flee from the crazy and rabid fangirls and fanboys who thinks that I'm the second coming of God...'_ was clear in the air between between the two clan heirs - well not the last part since she didn't have any fangirls or boys - lucky girl."

"Hey," he said as a brilliant idea sprung up in his mind, as she looked depressingly down at her food. "How about you come over to my place and then we can train together?"

Her face snapped towards him and the blush she had been sporting since he arrived drained away as she paled. "Wh-why?"

"Why not?" He returned. "We both hate fighting, so we should help each other."

"Bu-but you always f-fight... you- you n-never hes-hesitate." She told him softly, glancing down again as she folded her hands together.

"Hmmm," he hummed and grinned at her. "Tell you what, if you agree then I'll tell you a secret. I've always loved trading - equivilant exchange - advice for training!" He told her and threw his fist into the air.

"W-w-why would you want to-to train with me?" She said and clenched her small fists tightly around her chopsticks.

"Because..." he said, making a dramatic pause. "I need friends and someone my own age to train with instead of getting my ass kicked over the Hokage mountain on an everyday basis, you'll hopefully only kick my ass over some houses."

"But-but I'm not good at fighting..." She objected.

"That's where my secret comes into play," M _y half assed secret that only works with the right mentality, but maybe i'll be able to convince her._ Sasuke told her, with a wink. "So, what do you say?"

"A-alright..."

He helped Naruto with his clone jutsu, he can help Hinata too, and Sasuke gets the better part of the deal anyway.

It would be fine. Hinata was a gentle soul and Sasuke could really only take one lovable but violent person in his life.

* * *

 _These houses are so depressingly empty... I should totally rent them out or sell them and get disgustingly rich... well considering that I'm already filthy rich..._ Sasuke thought as he observed the barren houses and streets, there were cracks along the building's and the Uchiha clans mark where everywhere. On walls, on roofs, on lampposts, on toilets, on sinks and on the ground in form of flowers and stones.

He would need someone to fix up the place and remove all those clan marks. It was ridiculous. They were everywhere.

A pair of footsteps brought him out of his musings as Hinata carefully treaded down the abandoned path. She was accompanied by a glaring boy maybe a year older than her. He was dressed in Bisque shirt and a pair of brown shorts, his dark brown hair was longer than the short hair of the Hyuuga heiress. He also had bandages wrapped around his forehead, signaling his association to the side branch of the Hyuga clan, and if his withering glower was anything to go by, then the boy had the Caged bird seal under those bandages.

"Uchiha-san." She greeted him with a bow, when they neared him.

"Hinata!" He greeted in return with a smile as re resisted the urge to hug her. "Call me Sasuke," he paused and looked at the older boy. "And who are you?"

The older boys pale eyes narrowed at at Sasuke as he sneered. "Hyuuga Neji."

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke announced with a swirl, as an introduction and turned to the girl again. "How about we lose this loser and go have some girl time?" He whispered, wiggling his eyebrows as he leaned towards her ear.

"W-w-wha?" She spluttered, turning away from him as her face turned red. "My-my fa-father requested th-that Neji-niisan accompany me." She whispered, flinching slightly at the boys angry hiss.

"Ah, too bad," Sasuke grinned and turned away from the two as he grabbed Hinata's hand and waved to Neji to follow. "Come on, I have a large training area this way."

* * *

"Pretty boy can sit over there." Sasuke told them and waved his hand at his hammock area he called ' _The rainbow heaven,_ ' the older boy grumbled at his nickname but turned to the colorful array of hammocks tied between trees, making him wince at the bright colors.

"So," he said turning the the girl once the boy was out of hearing distance, and sat down on the green - and carefully cared for - grass, patting it. "Why should you fight?"

She hesitated slightly and Sasuke pulled of his jacket, placing it besides himself, mentally beating himself for not bring anything for them to sit on. _Poor fragile jacket_ , he mourned silently wiping away a fake tear.

"I-I should Fi-fight because I ne-need to protect my-myself." She told him looking at her hands, as she sat down on his poor jacket.

"Then why not fight me...?" He asked.

"I-I..." She trailed of, looking away from him.

"I understand," He said gently, putting his hand on her shoulder. "What's your dream- if you have one?"

"To-to," Hinata stopped again. "To free my family from the caged bird seal." She told him with fires burning behind her pale eyes.

 _Talk about doing a 180..._ He thought dryly.

"What does your dream need?" He prompted.

"I have- have to be stronger, so-so I-I can become cl-clan head."

"Why...?"

"So-so that the cl-clan elders make m-me head an-and not my sister... but I don't want my sister getting the se-seal."

"Alright!" Sasuke announced, leaping to his feet. "Let's spar!"

"Wh-what!? N-n-now!?"

"Yup!" Sasuke grinned and pulled her up, skipping away from her. "Come on! You get the first move!"

"B-b-but" She stuttered, hunching in on herself.

"Hit me."

"N-no!"

"Hit me."

"N-no!"

"Hit me!" He screamed in an almost inhuman voice, suddenly a hair's breadth away from her face, red eyes glowing menacingly.

"Why!?" She screeched back, and swiftly ducked into her jacket, avoiding his eyes.

 _Well she got angry but she didn't hit me..._

"Because..." he said taking a step back, and his eyes became black in a blink of an eye. "When you beat someone in a spar, they learn and they want to get better. In a way you help people by beating them up, and by helping them, they survive. It's what I'm doing now, helping you survive."

 _Let's not mention that most people actually gets discouraged by being beat up..._

"W-what...?"

"You can also protect those precious to you easier if your stronger and that means practice." He continued smoothly hoping to smooth out the inconsistencies in his little speech.

"So," He said, stepping back, throwing his arms out. "Ready to hit me? It only helps me in the long run, you beating my ass to a pulp technically helps me more than you. That's why you're here!"

"H-he's c-crazy." She whispered to herself, staring at the white and red clad boy.

"Better to get hurt in a safe environment, right?" Sasuke told her, not denying that he was crazy. "Imagine that I'm someone you hate and hit me."

"I-a-alright." She cautiously stepped forwards like he would suddenly change his opinion and attack her.

"Ha!" She suddenly screamed, leaping in front of him, and threw out her right hand in a blur of movement, knocking him over with a powerful strike to his stomach.

"Guh!" Sasuke gasped, falling to the ground and moved his hand to hold on the spot where the girl hit and closed one of his tenketsu.

"Ah!" Hinata screamed. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She blabbered frantically.

He really couldn't help it. He giggled into the dirt - like a lunatic, and rolled onto his back. "Oh that hurt!" Sasuke weezed.

"I thought you'd slap me or something," he snickered.

"Not actually gentle fist me."

* * *

Training with Hinata had become a painful experience once Sasuke had gotten the pale eyed girl to actually try and hit him - and he got loads of good evasion training or torture as Rukia would say from it. Sasuke was also happy to announce - to himself at least- that he had made a friend, a very good one at that.

A demon friend.

Hinata slowly became a little demon, hellbent on making his Body hurt. She had begun morphing into the horror she was these days when Hyuga Neji stopped coming with her. It really did do wonders to her confidence once her tormentors were gone.

She was a gentle and very caring soul deep inside, and Sasuke almost regretted telling her she helps people by beating them up.

And he thought she wasn't like Rukia, but the two of them got along so well in their quest to make his life a living hell. And then make him forget it by being nice and like a family to him. The demons.

He had helped her in the beginning for his own gain and because he had felt a type of kinship with her, and he really couldn't get himself to regret it.

They had both improved, so much since they began to hang out. He had slowly begun to be able to kick her ass, until Hinata got better and he had to start over. Again.

At least he got better than a lot of the academy children.

Hinata had also begun beating their classmates up. It had taken him a long time for him to make her actually do it and not just take their attacks without resistance.

He was so proud the day she finally attacked one of the students, after having finally convinced her to actually fight - except when she fought him of course, because Hinata only really wanted to beat him up, for some reason.

He suspected that it was because he had done that painful move on her the first time they spared. Or it was because he pranked her that one time by making sure she'd sit down on a nest of fake - and crazily realistic - spiders.

So when she fought the civilian born boy, Shimu - a boy who was always bragging about how he was awesome for winning against the clan kids a few times- and kicked his bragging ass into the ground. Sasuke had wished that he had his pompoms with him, that he doesn't have if Rukia asked.

The boy had been caught off guard when she rushed in as Iruka had announced for them to start the spar. She had hit several of the boy's pressure points, making him go limp. Making Hinata the winner of the spar in a few seconds. The - creepy - audience of shinobi hopefuls had stood frozen in shock, even Iruka had taken a moment to collect himself.

Sasuke had felt his pride overwhelming him as he had rushed in and crushed Hinata in a giant hug.

But that wasn't important right now.

What was important right now was to get away from this crazy lady.

"I bought you your dango," Sasuke growled. "And I got you that stupid alcohol. So I don't see why I should _make_ dango's for you."

"Come on Sasuke-kun~" She slurred, red coloring her cheeks as she leaned over the table, pushing her breasts up with her arm, winking at him with her purple eyes as she twirled her hair around her finger.

"No," Sasuke growled, rotating around his chair, fiddling with his glass making the orange liquid lap against the glass as as he looked away from her. "And I know you're not drunk."

"Whaaa? What ya mean?" She asked, sliding down on the table, rolling her head towards him, smiling slyly.

"How the hell do you know that I can cook anyway?" Sasuke hissed as he dug his head down to the table, glaring at her. He ignored his instinct to hiss at the older shinobi who was repeatedly glancing at them before turning away with something akin to a sneer.

"I have my sources." She purred.

Sasuke blinked at her and coughed lightly into his arm, an unimpressed look washed over his features. "You know Rukia don't you? There's only two people alive who knows that I can cook and _you're_ not one of them."

"Rukia who?" She asked an innocent look on her face, a too innocent look. A way too obvious look for someone who was either a special Jonin or higher.

"You know what." He finally told her and gulped down his juice. "I'll make you pizza if you teach me a jutsu. Because I frankly don't know how to make dango."

"A jutsu? That's hardly a fair trade." She slurred, keeping her drunken fasade up as she narrowed her eyes at him.

He smirked. "Rukia acted like it was a fair trade, I gave her a recipe and she taught me the false surroundings technique. So what do you say?"

Her eyes narrowed even more, if that was even possible.

"Deal." She smirked as he scratched his throat and she twirled up on her feet, dragging him up with her. "Come along brat."

* * *

"Uchiha-san," the ANBU said, his mask reflecting what looked to be an angry lion. "All personal has been summoned to the hospital."

Sasuke tilted his head to the side and scrunched his face in confusion. "Can you tell me why?"

"The Third Hokage's chakra has been poisoned." Lion tells him, his voice flat and calm.

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke's diary:**

 _Entry 4:_

"Help Kiba with his leaf floating exercise."

"Help out Chouji with your shuriken."

Do they really think I have time to help those losers who's just going to die anyway? They're just going to die on their first mission outside the village anyway. So why help them?

Why?

Because they don't take their careers seriously.

How do they expect me to work with kids who are so far under me that I can step on them? They're like dirt and stepping stones to me.

The only thing remotely exciting that happened to me since entry 3 was a small camping trip outside the village with the academy.

I was put in a group with the annoying girl Ino and some other kid named Mark. We lost because of them, they couldn't even survive until the last day.

So I didn't get the extra training prize.

They held me back.

I heard a rumor a few days ago. It was about life and death.

-Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Chakra poisoning.**_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I am the proud mother of this small cliff hanger. *wipes away tear* I'm so proud.**

 **And Sasuke sucks at inspirational speeches...**

 **This chapter gave me a lot of grief in the form of rewriting and editing. but this is also the last of what i call the 'boring' chapters, so i'm partying.**

 **Hinata stuttering is going to be the death of me. I'm basing her stuttering on how I once stuttered from my parents descriptions, my own experiences, from what I've read in the manga, other fics and the webs... I might have gone into too much detail about Hinata's stuttering.**

 **"and his eyes became black in a blink of an eye" lol this sentence makes me happy for some reason.**

 **Response section:**

To DarkDusk27: *whispers* (oc)Sasuke is kinda making me think about Naruto/sasuke too… I update on fridays every week if everything goes according to plan and chap 6 and 7 are already written so there will be an update next week.

To Not-Gonna-Update: Thanks for the review, it makes me so happy, and happy me means better chapters… i think. Btw, your username is awesome.

To Cherry: Who knows if (oc)Sasuke is reading the journal…

-Kenjo Catze


	6. Chapter 6: Chakra Poisoning

_I do not own Naruto. If I did, then there wouldn't be those ridiculous chakra nature weaknesses._

 **Warning for bad words.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Chakra Poisoning.**

* * *

Chakra poisoning.

Chakra poisoning, the two ugly and utterly disgusting words everyone feared these days.

Few had had it for a long time, their whole life. But 98% had gotten it during the past year.

Sasuke had seen them walking around the hospital, bags under their eyes, suppressor seals tied to their wrists and a sullen look which made them look like they came straight from a zombie film.

These people of this world had never even seen or heard of an epidemic before, and it was looking to him like it was one. It spread like the plague, both civilians and shinobi alike was victims of the rarely lethal but life damaging sickness.

No one was spared from the 'curse.'

Soft whispers went between the population, rumors of the end. it was like pretty much everyone had suddenly become doomsday preachers, he had even seen a person holding a banner pronouncing. 'The End is coming! Chakra is not a gift it's a Curse! ' Sasuke might have laughed at that.

It was horrifying to watch how good shinobi and kunoichi from Genin to Jonin, went from deadly assassins to zombie like patients in the matter of days. They got put in a special sector of the hospital so that they could keep it isolated. The staff had already realised that it could blow into an epidemic so dangerous that it wouldn't just be Konoha that got hit, but other villages too.

There were three different stages of the corruption. The first stage lasted from the time of infection to one hour or months later. The only indicator that you were in stage one was a slight coughing - it was too hard to spot.

The poisoning would either become stage two or three after stage one. Or both in extreme cases. Stage two was the more common one, it gave sudden bursts of feverishness, coughing fits - where they coughed up blood - and tiredness - It also messed with chakra control. The third stage was the one he had silently dubbed the zombie stage. The third stage had the poisoning infect all of the person's chakra and made them almost zombie like. All their senses would begin to get dulled from the painful chakra until their brains began feeling like a potato, becoming unresponsive. They would become no more than zombies until they died at some point, the time varied between those who had died by it.

Stage one was the stage where they still had the chance to actually remove the poisoning from the patient's chakra. They had found a way to draw the poisoning away and into an object when in stage one because it was still separate from the clean chakra.

But it became a futile battle after the first stage because the poisoning began to invade any new clean chakra before they could move it. Some medic-nins had gotten chakra poisoning because they had tried to remove it, like they would while the patient was in stage one.

Sasuke was reasonably scared.

A kid from his academy class had gotten it as well, she'd been put in quarantine two hours after the discovery, her family wasn't even allowed to visit her now. She had the second stage, the duration of her first stage had only lasted for a few hours.

And now the Hokage had gotten it too. In the third stage, and he was borderlining second stage too.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting, and brainstorming for a solution.

"We need some solutions for how to cure chakra poisoning," the head of the hospital gravely told them shortly and to the point as he sunk into his large chair. "It has been confirmed that it's a medical attack. We don't know who is doing it, but there's over four times as many with chakra poisoning these days than there's ever been recorded in this village, and the numbers keep getting higher and higher. So we're desperately in need of ideas, that's why everyone is here today, not just the top doctors. We need ideas no matter how ridiculous they seem."

The many doctors who had been shoved into the small office began whispering to each other at his announcement.

"An attack?"

"If we find the evildoers then they might have a cure we can use."

"But what if they've gotten it too? If they couldn't control the monster they created."

"Maybe we could create an antidote?"

"What if we localize the source?"

"It's impossible."

"It's not impossible, we just haven't found a way yet."

"We would already have a cure if Tsunade-sama was here."

"What if we tried to-"

Suddenly feeling light headed Sasuke turned to his teacher-teachers? When had she made a clone? and moved his weight from leg to leg, it had been a long time since he'd had random spurts of dizziness. Not since before he ended up in this world.

"How about-"

Sasuke's vision begins to blur and he leaned up against the nearest wall, gripping at the white paint, his sweaty hands slipping. The world began to spin as he realizes what was happening happening to him. _Stage three..._ His mind supplied almost mockingly.

His first thought was, _Idiot..._

"Master..." he moaned as he felt his consciousness slowly slipping away, hoping to catch her attention. He faintly hears her saying - or was she shouting? - his name. His weak grip on the wall began to loosen as shadows surrounded him and his legs began to give out under his weight. Someone was screaming besides him too. Sasuke tumbles towards the oddly colored floor - though that's probably just because of the spinning - with an ungraceful tumble.

His second thought was, _Oh shit floor._

A pair of hands on his shoulders keep him in the conscious world for a few seconds, and he manages to catch a snip bit of the chaos surrounding him before slipping into the shadows.

* * *

Things seem so simple, like there never was a different path. It's winding around like an eternal labyrinth made of air, you can stray from the path, but always ends up back where you came from. There's small differences, like the strange tree that keeps following him or the floating carpet.

Oh now there's Hinata too, in a shower of eyeballs.

Creepy.

"What are you doing here?" He asks as she stretches and pushes her back along the ground with her feet.

"I can't stand up," She tells him and rolls onto her side, looking at him like it's his fault. A white bunny hops on her hip, tilting it's head. "The mouse's small back got broken."

"Oh," He says, scratching his neck. "Do you need something? Chocolate?"

Everyone loves chocolate after all, except that one girl. She was nice, but also the biggest demon in the history of chocolate lovers.

Mister Shadow snorts at him, his shadow like form giving her the impression that he's making gagging motions.

He's a demon in the history of chocolate too.

Hinata replied with a dazzling smile as she tilts her head - a gesture so unlike Hinata that he can't seem to fit it to his mental image of her - it was more Naruto's thing. "Did the lizard get sick?" She begins to roll away from him before he can say anything. She rolls gracefully away into the horizon a smile on her face when Naruto joins her in the rolling.

Sasuke takes a bite of his pizza as he thanks the Gods that he knows how to make them, and sits down on his comfy armchair.

It's missing the back part.

How odd.

"Did you know that I was a girl?" He asks, turning to mister Shadow and leans over the armrest.

Maybe a cake would be good.

 ** _Of course I did you shitty bitch._** It replies as his Master growls from the side.

"Why me then?" Sasuke asks, towing his pizza through the shadowy body.

Master Rukia is wearing a banana costume, it has dried blood from a giant fake cut in its side. "I think it's because females are awesome." She says and she's suddenly on the other side of the throne. she leans on the armrest and pushes Sasuke back into the backrest with a smirk.

A flash in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

Oh look there's a clown fish flying through the air now, it's also green instead of orange. So beautiful.

 ** _You're making her fucking useless, you fucking slut. I should hang you up by your toenails and then slowly kill you._** Mister Shadow growls and looms over Rukia. It's red eyes glows menacingly as it opens its fanged mouth, showing off his sharp teeth. Look at you just sitting there instead of doing anything. It rasps as it turns to Sasuke. _**Why don't you do some-fish?**_

"fish?" Sasuke asked, as he pulls up his purple crown - it was blocking his vision.

"I'd like to see you do something." Rukia growled, her banana suit turning bright red and it looks like it's about to burst any second.

What are they talking about? The clown fish?

"Can you?" Sasuke asks, his brown eyes staring holes into mister shadows head, and he can see the clown fish swimming behind mister Shadow though the hols.

 _ **So the shit stain is asking me for help?**_ It laughs and moves down, it's from settling into something humanoid. It bows gracefully, it's nose almost touching the ground and Sasuke can feel its smirk in the air. **_As the mighty Sasuke 1.2 commands._**

And then the throne he was sitting on disappears, making Rukia fall to the invisible floor as Sasuke falls through it.

"What are you-!?"

The shadow man laughs as he straightens up. He kicks Rukia in the face.

* * *

Reality comes crashing in or - out on him like a splash of water hitting his face. Sasuke gulps for air, sweat drenches his shirt making it stick uncomfortably to his chest.

He's tired, and his body feels like he's just woken up from a month long sleep.

"...Sasuke?" A female voice asks as something shifts besides him, bringing him out of a calming haze. He shuts his eyes with great difficulty and turns his head when something wraps around his arms, a warm body squeezes him.

He opens his heavy eyes and spots the brown hair tickling his nose, it smells like sweat with a small hint of flowers.

"How?" The woman crushing him asks and pulls him away from her warm body and into a ray of sunlight. Sasuke closed his eyes again when they got burned in the evil light. "...Sasuke?" She asks as her hands shakes him a little bit.

 ** _Stop acting like a - what did you call them? a zombie you little bitch_**. The shadows deep voice growls in his mind.

"Ugh..." Sasuke groans as he opened his eyes, wincing at the bright colors. He shuts his right eye again.

"Hey." He mumbled when he caught sight of the woman holding him, it was Rukia, her brown hair looked like a birds nest.

She had lines of hazed green colors flowing through her. When did he activate the Sharingan? Why can't he get himself to turn it off?

"Sasuke!" She beamed.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked as he looked around the room he was in, He was in one of the bleak hospital rooms.

"you-" She started but stopped, swallowing a tense look crossing her face. "You have stage three chakra poisoning."

"What?" He whispered, looking around the room, sure enough it was one of the rooms in the isolated section.

"Haha very funny." He laughed, making sure to sound fake.

She looks at him, her face tightening up in seriousness.

"That's impossible," He snapped, his mind clearing up. "You found a cure, right? I don't have chakra poisoning, I _had_ it. It's impossible to do anything with stage three you fu-" he stops.

"Sasuke, It's still there, but it's been... separated." She said slowly as her hands began to glow a dark green, she moved the diagnosis jutsu over his body with a frown. "How is this possible?"

"What the fuc-hell are you talking about?" He snapped, his patience growing thin.

"Look down." She told him, her eyes wide in wonder.

"Tch fine- what the _hell_!?"

"What does it look like?" She prompted her voice brimming with excitement, leaning over as if she'd be able to see the same.

 _ **You can thank me later.**_

"I-" he stopped, his eyes as big as plates as his mouth dropped. "It's fucking amazing! My chakra is red, but there's a fucking black chakra flowing right along mine in some parts of my pathways." He looked up to his masters dark green chakra, it was flowing around her whole network in a steady flow and slightly blurry way, it was what his used to look like - just more clear. Not the mix of red and black, which he guessed was his chakra and the poisoning.

"That's strange..." Sasuke said and held his hand out in front of him, commanding his chakra to his hand as he watched in fascination. The black chakra was flowing around peacefully, not even reacting to his command or his red chakra.

 _What if I..._

The black chakra surged towards his other hand, making hi. freeze when all the poisonous chakra had moved out of his system in favour of being in his hand. "I can move it..." he whispered with a smirk.

"Move what?" Rukia asked with worry, the lines in her face showing her tense state.

"In my right hand," Sasuke said dramatically as he held up the hand. "There is chakra, and in my left hand," he stopped and held up his left, his voice turning giddy. "There's fucking poison."

"Poison!?" Rukia gasped as Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan, his red eyes turning charcoal black.

"Ah, yeah," Sasuke hesitates as he looks at his normal hands. "It was black. The poison, that is."

"That's amazing." Rukia breathed. "Does it hurt? Feel strange? Tell me everything! If we can find out how it happened then we can find a cure!"

"What do you mean by find a cure?" Sasuke asked her, snapping his head up. "Didn't you cure me?"

"No, we didn't." She said and looked at her hands. "You've been here a couple of days. Your condition changed yesterday, you began muttering in your sleep. We ran several tests on you, thinking it might be another form of chakra poisoning." She looked up at him focusing on his eyes. "You had your Sharingan activated and your chakra kept acting up, so we were worried that it would begin slowly draining your chakra until you would die of chakra exhaustion."

She stopped and the silence grew between them, until she smiled.

"But you didn't."

They didn't do anything? How the hell was he lucid then? She told him he had stage three chakra-

Unless-

Mister shadow, it did something - it must have. It did say it would get rid of the problem, but how?

That's it!

"I have an idea!" Sasuke shouted as he grabbed Rukia by her arms, a giant smile on his lips. "I think I have a solution!"

* * *

"Let me try!" Sasuke shouted, getting desperate. "Even if my idea doesn't work, there still the slight chance that it will! And that chance can save his life! - Everyone's life!"

Rukia narrowed her eyes angrily. "And if it doesn't work? What happens then?" She spat.

A few doctors looked between them, and visibly tried to hide behind their tablets, not wanting to get caught in their spat.

"Then I'll probably get chakra poisoning again." He replied crossing his arms.

"I can't let you take that risk!" She snarled grabbing the collar of his medical-nin coat, her green eyes burning with contained rage.

"And I don't care!" He snarled, pushing her hands of him. "And it's not like I'm super important to the village! I have an idea that might actually work against this stupid plague. I need to do this! If my idea works then I can destroy this stupid plague, and no one will get their lives ruined by it! You're being selfish!"

"I don't care if I'm being selfish!" She shouted back. "I can't stand to watch you get hurt again and not being able to do anything to help."

"Please," he said. "Let me do this, I need to... I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do anything."

"I-" She stopped with a tired sigh, massaging her temples, turning away from the boy. "You better make sure your idea works... and I'm going to be the one helping you."

"Thank you." Sasuke told her in earnest and turned to the doctors who had begun to slowly come out from behind their tablets. One had hid under a table, how odd. "There's green light for the operation, please inform the head. We might have a breakthrough here."

"Yes Uchiha-sama." They coursed and skittered out the room.

"Thank you," Sasuke repeated and surprise hugged Rukia.

"Just get back alright." She murmured and hugged him back.

* * *

"Alright, everyone out." He spat, angrily pointing at the green door, to the nurses who was running up and down the walls setting his nerves on a roller coaster.

They stopped moving around the room on their spiritual sugar high, but remained where they were. One who had been taking the patient's pulse dropped the arm making it smack into the operating table, and held her hands up.

 _That's gonna hurt tomorrow..._

"Out," He growled, his fingers twitched in irritation. "Did you people not get the memo? Potentially dangerous experimentation? Anyone?"

They didn't move until Rukia marched angrily into the room, slamming open the door with her foot. She was holding a red potted plant in her hands, it was a small Senjum Tree. The Senjum was a species that easily accepted chakra, it was one of the few sorts that was used for chakra paper.

"Didn't you hear him!?" Rukia snarled her temper already at a boiling point. "Out!"

"That was a bit harsh..." Sasuke commented as the nurses ran out like frightened animals running from their predator. "But it did get rid of them..."

"I'm sorry," Rukia said, taking some deep breaths to calm herself as she put the young plant on a tall plastic table. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, this is Gekkō Hayate?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the sedated man who was lying on the green table in the center of the room.

"That's him, he's a great guy." Rukia told him moving over to the other side so she was in front of Sasuke.

"Central Chakra poisoning cure test number 45, begins now." Rukia said, looking up into a one way mirror, signalling the beginning of their experiment.

 _You can take care of this part, right?_ Sasuke thought as he activated his Sharingan and moved his glowing hands along the man's body. He poured more chakra into his hands and they began to glow a furious red colour as he moved them over the man's chest. his red eyes looked at the vile chakra infecting the man's pathways in disgust and a bit of giddy. It said in his file that Gekkō Hayate had light blue chakra, but his chakra was a disgusting purple like color.

Feeling an affirmative run through his mind, Sasuke began drawing on the man's chakra. He began slowly pulling on the man's chakra as Rukia slowly pushed a small bits of her chakra into him. By transforming her chakra to match Hayate's chakra she could make sure he wasn't struck by chakra exhaustion. She filled man's pathway to the minimum as Sasuke drew the fitly chakra away, clearing a path for her as she made sure not to come near the vile chakra.

They began finishing exchanging all of the man's corrupt chakra a good hour later. Sasuke winced at the burning sensation in his arms that kept slowly building as the ugly purple chakra moved into his abused system. The man's laboured breathing began to even out, as they were finishing up.

 _Come on...!_ Sasuke pulled the remaining corruption into his system - making sure that mister Shadow was keeping it separated from his own chakra and removed his hands. Making the red glow stop.

"It's gone," Rukia stated, running a diagnosis jutsu over the man. "Subject 2 has no poisoning left in his system."

Sasuke pushed against the table with a grunt, trying to steady himself when a wave of dizziness splashed against him.

"Th- the tree." He gasped, wincing in pain as he resisted the urge to scratch his arms.

Sasuke took the plant Rukia quickly held out for him with a wince. Now to the hard part...

Feeling out the foreign chakra in his system, Sasuke pushed at his chakra. He pushed it against the alien chakra, willing it to move, and directed it into the plant.

 _Now's a good time to do your thing, mister Shadow..._

He bit back a scream as the tainted chakra began pushing it's way back though his arms.

"No." He breathed when the poisoning refused to leave his system. I said help! That means you need to help me get it out! Sasuke mentally roared, his eyes glowing as his hands began burning.

 ** _We might have different views of how to help, bitch._** Mister Shadows deep voice drawled from Sasuke's mind.

 _Fuck your shadowy face..._

Sasuke swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over him and he felt his arms begin to become limp. Sasuke turned his red eyes on the unmoving man's body, eyes roaming his form for any leftover corruption, smiling slightly at Rukia's chakra mixing cleanly with the man's newly recovered chakra.

Gekkō Hayate was cured.

Sasuke smiled slightly at the picture it painted - a man who had been sick with chakra poisoning since he was a teen was now free of the tainted and destructive chakra.

"Sasuke!?" Rukia shouted as she appeared besides Sasuke who swung his head to her, his eyes clouded as he tried to focus on her face. His head felt light, like he was asleep as he began losing his balance. He managed to lean towards Rukia before falling unconscious in her arms.

* * *

 _Well this is beginning to feel familiar..._ Sasuke thought as he quietly slipped out of the white bed, he looked down with a smile as he stumbled a bit.

 _They didn't even change my clothes this time, I'm so proud._

"I'm up," Sasuke said, shaking the last dizzyness of him as he knocked on the white door, wanting to get out as swiftly as he could. "How long did it take this time?"

He grinned to himself as an - his ANBU guard opened the door, glancing down at him. "An half hour." Snail said as she opened the door, allowing Sasuke to leave.

Sasuke had slept for a day after he had removed Gekkō Hayate's chakra poisoning. He had slept for a few hours the next time he cured a man with stage tree poisoning. And he had slept for a few days after having fixed up the thirds system, the old Hokage's chakra had been so potent and massive in size that it had taken a giant drain on Sasuke's own chakra, making his own recovery long.

The time it took for his body to sort out its - whatever it was - had varied depending on how much chakra the patient had. That was until Sasuke somehow began actually separating the poison from the person's chakra, instead of just taking it all in. Mister Shadow said that he was getting tired of Sasuke fainting for hours to days all the time. So Sasuke assumed that he had something to do with it, not that the guy even wanted to talk.

So Sasuke didn't black out all the time now, only if the person had Jonin level reserves.

Sasuke's chakra reserves had actually grown from all the abuse he was subjecticating it to. He had high D ranked - or high genin level reserves before. but now, from days of torture in the hands of corrupt genin to high Jounin level chakra reserves. Sasuke's chakra paths and core had been forcefully expanded by all the chakra, until his own chakra reserves had become high C ranked or high Chunin. Rukia told him that there would be consequences and Sasuke already knew what they would be.

His chakra control would become worse - maybe even below average - because of the speed in which he gained chakra. His control didn't grow with his chakra and that's the path to doomnation - there were still a small chance that his control actually got better as he gained the chakra. But Sasuke didn't allow himself to hope, it would only lead to disappointment.

He had already cured over 70% of the infected people. It had taken days, and Sasuke really needed a break. So he had argued for a few minutes with the head of the hospital before finally getting permission to take a break. After he had cured one more person, the old man was milking him for all he was worth. Even mister Shadow was tired of constantly being in the hospital.

"Sasuke," Rukia says, bringing him out of his internal monologue. "The Hokage wants to see you tomorrow."

"Huh? Why?"

"Probably to thank you," Rukia told him as she fell into step with him. They moved quietly through the hospital's white hallways and Sasuke had to keep himself from twitching when another doctor stopped what he were doing to stare at him in awe. "You did save his life."

"I guess I can't avoid it when it's the Hokage?"

"No," Rukia told him, the corner of her mouth lifting into a smirk when Sasuke groaned. "You can't."

Sasuke tsked as another person who had been talking to a little girl stopped talking to her in favour of staring at Sasuke. "These people..." he muttered.

"You can't really blame them, can you?" Rukia asked glancing away from him to look out over the people occupying the hallways. "But we were still lucky that they made it an S-ranked secret. Or it wouldn't just be doctors who stare at you like your the next hokage." She grinned and patted his back.

Sasuke snorted. "I'd rather die than become hokage."

"It's regarded as a great honour to have a student who's a Kage." She replied, swinging an arm around his head. "And you'd be a great hokage! The first thing you'd do is make pizza the national food of Konoha! It would be great!"

"Like hell I would! That's your dream after all, you can do it when you become Hokage."

"Oh, but people don't know who your poor teacher is." She grasped at her heart, leaning over his shoulder as a fake tear left her eye. "It's so heartbreaking."

"I'd make tomatoes illegal." Sasuke smirked.

"You wouldn't!" She gasped, man handling him so that they were face to face. "You love tomatoes too!"

"Sometimes you have to suffer for revenge." Sasuke told her, pulling out of her grip and jumped up a wall and onto the roof of a round building. _Who the hell makes round buildings anyway? It's so impractical..._

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Rukia asked when she landed besides him in one jump.

"Yeah, the colors really makes Konoha one of the prettiest places I've ever seen." He replied, glancing out at the beautiful red sky that washed into pink and orange, coating the village it it's colors.

"It's the only place you've ever seen." Rukia laughed as she admired the vibrant colors.

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke's diary - journal dammit.**

 _Entry 9:_

Nothing interesting is happening lately, everything is becoming increasingly dull.

My life has become a routine.

I did find some more things about that rumor I wrote about in entry 4. It think it might just be my ticket to killing Itachi.

He will die.

Painfully.

For mom.

For father.

For everyone.

\- Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: A Graduation.**

* * *

 **Response thingy:**

To Kzen: _Oooh I haven't had time to check the story out yet (mostly because I couldn't get your like to work… -_-') but it looks good._

To DarkDusk27: _Haha! That is exactly what I wanted! uncertainty!_

To Completely Confunded: _… How could you! I thought i was being clever! Yes, the Mark was intentional, but who knows why I would do something like that…_

 _Also I've corrected to t-t to th-th because you were right! and I in all my 'english is my second language-ness' didn't even think about it._

To Bloody-Kirai: _This story isn't going to suddenly die like my previous story, mostly because I've actually made a brief to really detailed overview of the chapters up to the chunin exams. so this story will continue for a long time because I'm always expanding the story with new ideas._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **My brain feels like goo. So let's raise our glasses in a cheer. I love and hate this chapter, it was fun to write some parts while others made want to cry in a corner.**

 **Mister Shadow is fun and difficult to write because I tend to not use swear words when I write or talk in general.**

 **Fun fact: Kage means cake in Danish. So I think about cake every time I write Kage.**

 **...I find it amusing.**

 **Also a bit of bad news: Chapters are going to be less frequent now that school is starting up again.**

 **And a bit of good news: Chapter 7 is currently at 8 thousand words… and chapter 8 is at 5 with only ⅓ done…**

 **I'm very proud of myself.**

 **-Kenjo Catze**


	7. Chapter 7: A Graduation

_I do not own Naruto. If I did, then Sakura would have more moments of awesomeness and character development._

* * *

 **Chapter 7: A** **Graduation.**

* * *

"Hi-na-ta!" Sasuke sang, crushing her smaller body in a hug. "You did it! This is awesome, we might even get on the same team!"

His shoulders began shaking and a laughter - Hinata had learned to associate with Sasuke having a _'I'm thinking about something that makes me happy but others will suffer for'_ moment - ripped it's way out of his throat in a movie villain like crackle.

He stopped, removing one hand from her back and coughed, looking around the classroom. He stopped to stare at a girl who was coming towards them with a hiss.

"There there." She said, patting his head and he stopped hissing as he froze. "No more fighting."

"I'm not a dog." He growled, releasing their hug to stare at her.

"Of course not." She replied not missing a beat.

"How did you do?" He finally asked looking at her neck which sported her new headband. She couldn't help but lift her head proudly, preening at the attention.

"We'll have to change the cloth," He whispered admiring the leaf symbol. "It clashes horribly with your jacket."

"They had all kinds of different colors but I was thinking of just replacing it with a white on," she whispered back as they slipped behind one of the highest tables. "But I don't think that father would approve, the hidden cloud is known for using white. So he might take it badly."

"What about lavender?" He asked. "It would match with your eyes and chakra then."

It had taken Sasuke a good amount of time to get her out of the giant and way too big jacket of hers. But he had done it, so she was wearing a less comfortable looking but way more comfortable battle dress that Sasuke and Rukia-san had helped - forced - her pick out. So she was wearing white, green and purple, instead of her old cream and blue.

It had been a birthday present from them.

"Hmmm, maybe." Hinata hummed, leaning on her elbows. She looked at him slyly, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Iruka sensei said that I got a perfect score, in everything."

He looked at her, his face grimacing as he moved his expression into an obvious blank state. "You are the spawn of Satan." He told her deadpan.

Hinata laughed quietly, ignoring the fact she didn't know what 'satan' was. She had realised long ago that Sasuke said the strangest things sometimes and she had learned to just go with it.

"Oooh, Hinata-sama." He breathed loudly, bowing down, his nose touching the table. "The jutsu's bow down under your dangerous gaze, in fear for failing you. Teach me your ways..."

She meeped when several heads turned to them, she pulled at him frantically, a blush painting her face red as she tried to get him up from his position. "G-get u-u-up."

He grinned, looking up and showed her his teeth as he gave her a _'what me?'_ Look with his eyes.

her eyes narrowed as she gave him her own _'I'm going to beat you up, and I'm going to enjoy every second of it.'_ Look.

He paled as Hinata leaned in, "Your allergic, right?" She whispered in his ear, knowing that he would get what she was saying.

"Ahahaha..." Sasuke laughed fakely as he leaned away from her. "What are you talking about? I'm not allergic to anything." He squeaked.

Hinata smiled slowly, an innocent look in her eyes as she slowly said, "Of course not."

"Uchiha Sasuke." A bald woman said and Sasuke turned his head so fast that Hinata almost thought that it could have fallen off.

"Bye!" He quickly squeaked, and ran down to the teacher.

 _Poor Sasuke..._ she thought as he was showed into the testing room and her impassive face turned into a smirk. _Too bad that you're allergic..._

She was really grateful for Sasuke asking her to train with him. She'd almost say that he saved her - by letting her beat him up.

His reasonings had been lofty when he told her why he wanted to train with her. They hadn't made much sense to her, and Hinata had felt that he only had wanted to train with her out of pity. He had a Jonin to teach him, so why would he chose her?

She still didn't know.

Her father hadn't really changed his opinion of her because she refused to fight her sister. Who the hell would want to beat up her little sister anyway!? Hanabi's taijutsu moves were painfully predictable and she could see that her father expected her to attack, instead of defend.

But how was she supposed to attack her back?

Sasuke and Rukia-san told her that sometimes attacking meant that you respected your opponent, but sometimes you need to be gentle. But there were no real way to do it, you just had to rely on your instinct.

It was fun to fight Sasuke though. He never seemed to take his own pain seriously, walking and joking around like it didn't even face him. He avoided pain like it was the Chakra poisoning but joked around afterwards. It made her wonder what kind of pain had gone through in the past, or if he just had a strong pain resistance.

Hinata wouldn't have gotten a full score on all her subjects if not for Sasuke and Sasuke's teacher, Rukia-san. And Rukia-sans advise that she didn't need to care about making mistakes, because she was probably never going to see the examiners again in her life.

The first exam - which had been held yesterday - had been a fairly easy verbal and written test. She already knew all the information she needed like her own pockets, so the test had been a breathe.

She had gotten full score. But she didn't get any extra points because she didn't show them anything out of the ordinary. Not that she really had the motivation to do it.

The second test had been on throwing weapons, from the regular shuriken to a fork. Hinata had been impressed by the large variety of thrown weapons they had presented for her to throw. If she knew how of course.

She got a full score and two points for knife throwing abilities.

She had known how to throw a knife because it was the _only_ thing Sasuke could throw to perfection. And he hit every time, moving or not. He could literally not throw kunai or shuriken without nicking himself on the blade.

He was the 27th best at throwing in their class though. Not a great score, but he acted like it was his greatest success ever.

There was 29 people in their class.

The third test had been a taijutsu fight, and Hinata had fought a man who was a special Jonin focusing on taijutsu from what she was told. She had only managed to hit him six times and had been disappointed until the man said she got a full score with some bonus points. They told her that she didn't even have to hit him to get a 100% and that she got her 18 bonus points for hitting him.

Taijutsu was also the hardest test to get extra points on.

She had also been allowed to use the gentle fist. so the poor man had been forced to meet a med-nin after their fight to get his six tenketsu reopened.

She was awesome, she decided to herself.

The fourth test had been ninjutsu, it tested their use of the replacement jutsu and the two survival jutsus, the Fire Spark Jutsu for camps and the warming technique for cold environments.

She had gotten a full score for being able to do them to perfection - for genin. And more extra points for the gentle fist which unlike popular belief was a ninjutsu based fighting style or a nintaijutsu.

She didn't have the same skill level or amount of jutsus as Sasuke in ninjutsu, but it was enough to get above average.

The fifth test had been on genjutsu. The two academy genjutsus, The Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu.

She had gotten full score but no bonus points. It made her wish that she had accepted Sasuke's offer to teach her the False surroundings technique.

But that was too late now.

Hinata turned her new and shining - literally - headband in her fingers, and admired the spiraling leaf gouged neatly into the metal. She would have to have it dulled so that it wouldn't be able to reflect light.

She wondered if her father would be proud, if he would approve of her score.

If he would smile at her.

Hinata looked up when the door opened up after a long while.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The bald woman who had tested Hinata in throwing skills announced. Hinata peeked up shyly as her crush sprang from his seat with a vow of success as he followed the instructor.

* * *

Sasuke watched with dread as the bald woman who had introduced herself as Yuu Lucy - a strangely western name - led him to a range with kunai, shuriken and other kinds of thrown weapons were lined up neatly on a long table.

"Do you know how to throw anything other than kunai and shuriken?" She asked as she walked over to the array of weapons.

"Senbon and knives." Sasuke told her, taking in the mass of weapons he didn't even recognize. There was one that looked like a scythe, but how in the world did you throw that?

"You can start with kunai." She drawled as Sasuke released a sigh.

 _This is going to suck..._

* * *

It did suck.

Except for taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. That was three out of four, not so bad.

The woman, Lucy - something had been impressed by his skill with knives, but had looked at him with an expression that said, _'You can't be serious... Your this good with knives but you make yourself bleed just by touching a kunai and shuriken...'_

He got an below average. With a few extra points for his wide range of knife and senbon skill.

It had admittedly been satisfactional to see how the woman - who had pretty much given up on him the moment he picked up a kunai and accidentally cut himself - be surprised when he threw the knives, of all sizes like he had done it all his life - which he kinda had. He had hit all targets perfectly - he had also hit the extra point targets to redeem himself a bit.

The taijutsu exam was more enjoyable, with an average and nine points - three hits.

The spar had started out normally enough, Sasuke had been on the offensive, hoping to find an opening he was sure tell man would make.

If he could actually hit.

The man had been making thousands of openings for Sasuke to attack. But he had been defended against every time until he deliberately ignored an opening to attack another place. And Sasuke had been able to stick himself to the man using chakra and had delivered two fast strikes to the surprised man's back.

Before getting down to the ground when the man's instincts had sprung up in his surprise and Sasuke broke his arms -both of them trying to protect his body - at the impact.

And dear God did it hurt.

Sasuke was proud to say that he was able to heal himself when both his arms were broken. It was a fairly difficult technique but he wanted to try it - and it's not like he would get another chance to try it in a controlled environment.

The man had looked at him like he was crazy when Sasuke had declined medical help. The taijutsu experts disgruntled look had totally made the pain worth it.

Ninjutsu was less eventful. Sasuke had shown the required jutsu, the Grand Fireball jutsu, The Body Flicker jutsu, The Electric Shock jutsu and an official list of his medical ninjutsu - complete with stamp and all.

The examiners had been very impressed.

He got an above average with a lot of points. But he hadn't really expected anything less.

It had been a battle and a half getting his chakra control back after having his chakra forcefully expanded. It wasn't even up to the level he had previously yet, but he still managed to get all his jutsus working.

Genjutsu had gone like ninjutsu. Sasuke had shown the required jutsu to perfection and had then shown his own genjutsus.

Iruka-sensei was very happy about his performance considering that his clones had still been sick a few weeks back.

Curse that chakra boost to the depths of the worst parts of hell.

Not to mention that the Sharingan helped him cheat with genjutsu. So he got above average with loads of points stacked on top.

He had also gotten below average with points in the theoretical test because of all the stupid shinobi rules. Who needs to know that 'A shinobi must not cry' was number six - or whatever it was?

No one, that's who.

"Sasuke," Iruka said as his eyes sparkled with pride, making Sasuke want to bash his head into the desk just to get those eyes away from him. "Congratulations, you passed." He handed the list of Sasuke's scores to him with a smile Sasuke could have lived without, as Mizuki nodded in agreement.

 _At least I won't have to deal with this shit from now on..._ Sasuke thought dryly as he accepted the piece of paper, folding it up neatly and put it in his pocket. He looked down at the small array of newly made headbands.

"So I just pick one?" Sasuke asked as he tilted his head and blew some hair away from his nose when they nodded.

There was three in total. One with black cloth, one with blue and one with-

 _Oh._ Sasuke grinned, not showing his grin, because then his former teachers would probably think that he was going crazy. again. But now that he had thought about it, Sasuke decided to let his grin show, enjoying how the two teachers paled as their eyes landed on where he was looking.

Their hands twitched in the want to just remove it and Iruka groaned, placing his head in his hands as Sasuke swiped up the faulty headband everyone else had - and why couldn't sasuke had done that too - avoided like their life depended on it. Before they could remove it.

"Are you sure...?" Mizuki asked, his head dropping in misery.

"I think it has character." Sasuke grinned throwing it up in the air, making it spin a little and catching it again. He observed what would be his future headband. "Besides, if you really didn't want anyone to take it, then why did you put it out?"

Iruka mumbled something and slipped his head down on the desk, his shoulders sloughing forwards.

"We didn't have enough headbands, but we forgot to remove it after Mira failed." Mizuki told him, a pleading look in his eyes. "It's a prank, you don't have to take it."

"No worries," Sasuke grinned, waving at the two with the headband as he began walking away. "I'll take good care of him."

"That's the wrong door!" Iruka exclaimed, leading him out another door on the other side of the room. "You go in one way and out another."

* * *

"What is that?" Hinata asked with something akin to disgust, her eyes tracking the headband as Sasuke swung it around in his hand.

 _So much for being the black sheep of the Hyuga clan..._ "It's my forhead protector!" Sasuke replied cheerfully. "There's no need to get a stick up your butt about it."

"I saw it in there and you know what I thought." Hinata bristled, her eyes burning with passion. "I'm going to kick Sasuke's ass so much that he can't sit straight for a week if he takes that _thing_ with him outside this room."

"Hey it's not so bad," Sasuke defended, holding the headband to his chest. He looked at it again, his eyes sparkling. "I'd say that it's cute, but I'm this manly man now, so I'll say that it's _manly_."

"There is nothing _cute_ or _manly_ about a headband that looks like it could be from another village." She spat the words out. "You're stepping on our village by having that stupid mark anywhere on your body."

"...You have to admit that it looks cute."

She growled in hopelessness, dragging her hands over her face. "Damit."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"So are we going to bail?" Sasuke asked when Hinata remained sitting on the bench. "or are we waiting for a certain someone?"

Sasuke smirked when she froze, her hand halfway to the table as her head turned red.

"C-can we w-wait a bit?" Hinata stuttered as she hid in her arm and he smirked knowingly.

"Sure," He stopped. "But you have to admit that my headbands kinda cute."

She groaned, slamming her head into the desk with a thud.

* * *

A door quietly opened and Hinata and Sasuke who were the only people in the room looked up to see Naruto sneak out the door. His expression was set in a frown Sasuke had seen months earlier when he had failed another genin exam. The boy glanced briefly in their direction before snapping his head away from them and began running out of the room.

"...He failed?" Sasuke whispered as Hinata gasped besides him.

"How did he fail?" Sasuke asked dumbly, staring at the door as Mizuki slipped out a while after Naruto had done the same.

"What the Fuck!" Sasuke snarled, his confusion getting swapped with anger as he sprung from his seat. "Want to come?" He asked Hinata, trying not to sound too angry.

"Wh-where are we going?" She stuttered, following after Sasuke. Who hoped that her stuttering wasn't because of his anger.

"To beat up a fucking teacher." The Uchiha growled, his eyes flashing red at her for a brief moment when Hinata grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"Be-beating up a teacher isn't going to h-he-help!" She told him, pulling on his arm. "Naruto-kun didn't pass. There's nothing we can do!"

"There's no fucking way he failed!" Sasuke growled, wrenching his arms free as he saw Naruto slumping down on the swing in front of the academy through one the windows. He leaned on the window still watching as the boy's eyes slipped out a silent tear. "I know that he had the required skills to pass!"

Sasuke has invested time into making sure that Naruto would be able to pas. Giving him books he didn't need, making sure that the boy had read them and was trying the things in them.

 _So why?_

Because those morons was destroying his progress.

Sasuke had spent hours on trying to find some reason for it, but had only been successful in finding reasons for them giving him special attention.

Like his sensing, and his enormous chakra reserves, and his intuitive mind, and the fact that the boy was one of the only decent people in konoha.

Sasuke moaned in dismay, slumping down and turned to Hinata who was glancing quietly down at the floor.

"Let's go find him." He decided and turned to her with a smile. "And then we can go demand that he'd be retested."

She just smiled as sad smile at him, like she had already given up.

* * *

"Congratulations you two!" Rukia gasped her arms squashing Hinata and Sasuke together as she hugged them to her, when they opened the door. "And I love the headband!"

"I know!" Sasuke smirked at Hinata when they were released as Hinata growled like the Hyuuga she was.

"It's disgraceful."

"So how did my favourite brats do?" She asked, ignoring Hinata.

"We did great." Sasuke mumbled, looking at a tree that suddenly seemed really interesting.

"I got top above average _and_ rookie of the year." Hinata said as her eyes shone in pride. "Sasuke got above average too."

"Really? Sasuke got above average?" Rukia asked as she entered Sasuke's house and kicked of her boots, throwing them a small distance from her. Where they landed besides each other standing up perfectly. "Who would have thought?"

"You have to teach us that." Hinata and Sasuke said dazedly in syconatasion, looking at the boots.

"What the hell do you mean by 'who would have thought!?'" Sasuke screeched, pointing a finger at Rukia before she and Hinata left around the corner when he registered what his teacher had just said.

"Come on Sasuke! We need some celebration food!" Rukia shouted back as Sasuke stomped after them into his kitchen, where they were already sitting by his dining table.

Rukia smashed a knifes and forks handle into the tables blue cover five times as she demanded that he made her food. "You. Food. Make. For. Me."

"That is the reason why we keep you around." Hinata absentmindedly continued with a nod as she read in her book on basic medical ninjutsu for emergencies.

"You know, I liked you better when you didn't speak without stuttering." He told her, throwing a banana at the back of her head. "And stop abusing my utensils."

"You hurt me." Hinata replied as Rukia grinned and Hinata tilted her head to the side before catching the banana. She looked at it as she turned to him, the veins around her eyes bulging out.

"Using the Byakugan is cheating!" Sasuke grinned as he caught the banana when she threw it back at him.

"Says the kid who talk in his sleep about his _awesome_ glowing eyes of destiny." Rukia piped up as she used chakra strings to steal the banana from his hands.

"Careful with that banana, it might try something." Sasuke told her, taking out a pot and placing it on the kitchen stove as Rukia began to peel it.

She stopped her hand just before breaking the top. "What did you do with it?"

"Nothing," he grinned as he looked around his fridge. "But you never know what they're planning."

"Ha ha." She said dryly and began peeling the banana. "What are you making for us oh food slave?"

"Lasagna." He told her taking out some tomato meat sauce leftovers from the fridge.

"Oh," Hinata said as Rukia cheered with a cry of tomato. "That will certainly do dear slave."

"I hate you."

"I know you do." She told him with a smile as she bend her head back to look at him.

"So how did the two of you do?" Rukia asked Hinata after finishing her banana as she threw the banana peel to Sasuke who gapped it out of the air before turning to his cooking again.

"I got..."

Sasuke turned out their conversation with a frown as he began preparing the required ingredients.

Something was bothering him about the conversation they had with Naruto after they found had him earlier that day.

He told them not to worry about about it because Mizuki had told him of a secret extra test.

But he couldn't say what it was.

Sasuke knew that Mizuki _hated_ Naruto with a passion. So why would he go out out of his way to find Naruto and give him a never heard of before test.

Not to mention that that he should have been able to pass without an extra test. Lee Rock from a year above them had been able to pass _without_ being able to use a single ninjutsu or genjutsu.

"What do you think?"

Sasuke really hoped that Naruto was able to pass whatever test Mizuki had told him about. The boy had too much potential to just be a civilian, his giant chakra reserves and creative mind would become a great asset to the village. He might even become the Hokage he was always shouting about.

"Sasuke!"

"What?" Sasuke asked as he stopped stirring the cheese sauce.

"What do you think about team placement?" Rukia asked, looking at him.

"Ah," Sasuke paused with a shrug. "I don't really know, but they're probably going to make an Ino Shika Cho team."

"Do you think we might get on a team together?" Hinata asked, leaning over the table to the side to look at him.

"Nah." He dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You'll probably get on a team with shino. The two two of you are the top students, but I don't know who was the worst. Isn't that what they usually do?"

"So mean." Hinata whispered and hung her head in fake sadness.

"When are you finished!? I'm starving!" Rukia exclaimed dramatically as she leaned over the table, pushing herself onto it.

"Making food takes time!" Sasuke shouted back, throwing an orange at her.

* * *

"Hinata." Sasuke whispered in her ear as as they entered to classroom and pulled slightly on her arm.

"What is it?" She whispered back as she began sitting down.

"look." Sasuke said and grabbed her head, tuning it to where a blonde boy was sitting by one of the lower tables.

"H-he pa-passed." She stuttered and vinced silently.

 _I knew you could do it... Naruto-kun._

"What do you say about asking him what the secret test was?" He asked and walked down to the table behind the silent boy. Sasuke looked back at her and nodded his head at the blonde when she shook her head.

 _Come on._ He mouthed as he walked up on the desk behind the blonde boy and jumped down on the long seat besides Naruto.

"Wah!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped away from the dark haired boy in surprise. He took a few calming breaths and turned to the Uchiha, his face red. "What the hell was that for you bastard!?"

"Hey." Sasuke said with a smile and looked at Hinata from the corner of his eye, he gave a little tilt of his head for her to come over, before focusing on the other boy again. "I didn't see you there."

"Like hell you didn't!" Naruto growled when Sasuke nodded to her again.

"Ah," Sasuke said pleasantly. "Hinata and I wanted know how your test went, you obviously passed."

 _Sasuke you bastard..._ Hinata's mind growled when Naruto turned around and looked where Sasuke was pointing at her with a smirk.

"Hey Hinata! Why don't you sit over here?" Naruto smiled brightly as her face turned red in embarrassment when the few genin already in the classroom looked at her.

Sasuke's eyes flashed red for a second and an image of a demon mockingly appeared behind him when she began to shakily - no she doesn't _shake_ dammit- move over to them.

 _I'm go to kill you..._ her eyes communicated to the dark haired boy as she sat down besides him and disrupted her chakra, making the genjutsu disappear.

He rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at the space he had made between himself and the now confused Naruto, who tilted his head in that foxy-

 _Deep breaths take deep breaths Hinata, deep breaths._

"So how did it go?" Sasuke asked as he scooted a bit closer to Naruto, dragging her with him.

Naruto's face turned sad for a moment before the emotion flashed off his face as he made the fake smile Hinata could recognize with her eyes closed. "I had to learn this new jutsu! It's totally awesome!" He told them in excitement as the fake smile thankfully bled away.

He leaned forwards and told them in a scheming voice. "It's called the shadow clone jutsu, but don't tell anyone."

 _The shadow clone jutsu!? The solid clone jutsu most Jounin can't even make three of!?_ Hinata thought in amazement as her eyes widened.

Sasuke snorted as he crossed his arms. "Of course you'd be able to use that jutsu."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Naruto challenged even though his expression was happy.

"Nothing, I-" Sasuke grinned as the classroom door slammed open, revealing Ino and Sakura. The two girls immediately shouted about being first as Sasuke continued. "I'm kinda impressed."

"You admitted that I'm better than you!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing a finger at Sasuke.

"No I didn't." Sasuke coolly said as Naruto began cheering.

"Hey, will you let me sit here?" Sakura asked Naruto, her hands on her hips.

Naruto's cheeks turned red as he blushed and his yum- eyes looked to the side, a happy grin appearing on his face as Hinata frowned in anger and glared at the pink haired girl.

"Naruto!" She shouted at the boy, not noticing the pair of pale eyes glaring holes in her head. "Move you ass! I want to sit besides Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke sighed as his head dipped down onto the desk when the pink haired girl shoved Naruto down to lean over. "Sasuke-kun can I sit next to you?" Sakura asked as Hinata's lips curled into a sneer.

"Nope!" Sasuke replied cheerfully and Hinata smirked in victory. "But there's a free place there." He told her as he waved at the free space behind him.

 _That's it Sasuke!_ Hinata thought darkly in delight. _Get her away from my future husb - I mean Naruto._

"Yay!" Sakura cheered as she jumped into the seat and began making heart eyes at the dark haired boy.

Naruto glanced up at the green eyed girl before glaring at Sasuke who gave a disgruntled "What!?" Before glanced up at the pink haired girl and then turning briefly to Hinata. His face scrunched in confusion.

 _He's so cu-_

"What?" Sasuke asked the blonde boy again as he crossed his arms when Naruto jumped up and the table and crouched down, glaring at him. Hinata frowned at the consecrated look in Naruto's squinted eyes.

"Naruto! Leave Sasuke-kun alone!" Sakura shouted behind them, binging her fists up threatingly.

"What's so good about you?" Naruto challenged with a growl when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have no idea." Sasuke shrugged, leaning back into his seat as he smiled secretly back.

"Kick his ass Sasuke-kun!" Some girls shouted at them making Hinata wonder how they even became genin in the first place.

"I think it's something not-me-"

"Gah!" Naruto exclaimed as he got shoved from behind. Hinata bleached as as her brain automatically predicted the course of her crushes fall.

Hinata froze and her eyes bulged as she activated her Byakugan involuntary.

Then it happened, it was like watching a movie in slow motion as Naruto's lips rammed right into Sasuke's. They froze as their eyes widened and Naruto sprang away as the girl's -Hinata never really bother to learn the names of- and Sakura roared in rage.

"Yuck! My mouth is burning!" Naruto gagged as Hinata began turning to her dark eyed _friend_.

His eyes were blown wide as his mouth parted slightly in shock and he moved his jaw. Gabbing like a fish as he stared dazedly out into the air.

"But..." Sasuke mumbled something as his body became limp and he smashed into the desk with a thud. "But I'm not..."

Hinata frowned when she caught the last word. _What is a paedophile?_

 _It doesn't matter anyway..._

"Sasuke..." She whispered leaning towards his muttering head. "I think we're going have to a really good time later."

He visibly gulped and turned his eyes to her. "Only in sparring." He told her hoarsely and sat up again glancing over where Naruto had stopped gagging when several girl's anger washed over him. "Ours!" Sasuke announced, pulling the blonde boy away from the furious girls and into a hug. "This one is now property of Sasuke and Hinata! We just need to get him a tattoo now!"

"What the hell you bastard!?"

* * *

"From today you are all real shinobi, but you're still genin, so the long and hard journey you've set out on is just starting. You'll also be able to get missions to help the village from now on." Iruka told the class as he stood watching over them. "You will all be put into teams of three with a Jounin sensei. You will follow your sensei through the missions and training the future holds for you all." He finished, allowing it it to sink in.

"We've tried to balance each team's strengths. Now the teams are as following..."

Sasuke's dream team was probably with Hinata, he didn't really care for his third teammate. But he knew that Hinata's dream team was with Naruto - her crush and him. They would be a pretty awesome team too. Taijutsu from Hinata, ninjutsu from Naruto and genjutsu and Medical ninjutsu from him.

"...Team 7: Haruno Sakura..."

 _Not me... Please not me... dear God. Kami-sama whoever, please not me._ Sasuke begged as his fingers twitched.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka continued and Naruto sprung from his seat with a cheer but frowned when Sasuke heard Sakura's forehead hit the desk behind him in dismay.

"Uchiha-"

"Nooooo!" Naruto and Sasuke screamed at the same time as their third teammate gave a cry of victory.

"- Sasuke." Iruka finished as he rolled his eyes.

"Why does an awesome shinobi like me have to be on a team with a loser like him!?" Naruto screeched as he pointed to Sasuke who gaped at him in mock hurt as he held a hand to his chest, just over his heart.

"I thought you loved me!" Sasuke replied as he hung his head and ignored the kick Hinata sent his way.

"Because the three of you have complementing abilities." Iruka sighed. "There no way to change the team rosters anyway."

"Don't worry." Sasuke said turning to the boy with the best - obvious - fake smile he could muster, not that it would matter, Naruto would know anyway. "I'll carry you if you break your legs."

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

* * *

"Why isn't he here yet!?" Sakura screeched, her hair almost standing up as she slammed a fist into a table. Sasuke gaped at her punch when when it only narrowly missed his leg.

"Because he's late?" Sasuke prompted and put a piece of chocolate in his mouth as he kicked of his boots which flew into the blackboard and stretched his legs out over the edge of the long table he was lying on, wiggling his toes.

"Damn sensei." Naruto muttered angrily, his legs twitching in unused energy.

"Chocolate?" Sasuke asked and held a chunk of chocolate out to his two enraged teammates.

"I'm sorry, but I'm on a diet." Sakura declined as she blushed.

"Hey," Sasuke said sagely. "You're plenty thin, besides if you continue then you'll get properly anorexia."

"Umm." Sakura asked. "What is anorexia?"

"It just means you get too thin." Sasuke explained shortly, not bothering to explain something too out of this world for her to understand. "Take it." Sasuke prompted and waved the piece in front of her green eyes. "I eat loads of chocolate, it doesn't do all that much if you just burn it of."

"Okay." Sakura relented and bit into into the piece, her eyes lighting at the taste.

Naruto squinted at the sweet piece as he shoved it into his mouth. "Do you have chocolate with you everywhere?"

"Yes, yes I do." He answered with a glint in his eyes as he slowly showed the boy two large bars of chocolate in his pouch like people would show a gun in movies.

"We need to get him back!" Naruto suddenly grinned and slipped out of his seat. He ran over plucked the blackboard eraser from its holder as his grin turned into a demonic smirk. "This will show him. Dattebayo!" The blonde one grinned as he ran over to the door.

"I'm not involved!" Sakura grunted as she leaned back into her seat and nibbled on her chocolate.

"Naruto." Sasuke said, interrupting the boy's scheming as he threw a chocolate chunk at him. "Why don't we all do something more interesting?" He suggested. "An eraser is a bit boring don't you think?"

Naruto stopped after putting the eraser in the door and looked at him, jumping down from his makeshift scaffolding. "What are you thinking?"

Sasuke smirked and sat up, looking out at his two teammates as he went over his prank in his head again. He told them the basics of his plan and finished his little speech with an evil laugh - for good measure.

"What do you say? Sakura? Naruto? Are you in?"

"Hell yeah!" Sakura cheered, her eyes burning with passion, surprising Sasuke at her exclamation.

 _Does everyone in this world have bipolar tendencies?_

Naruto looked at Sakura before smirking at him. "I'm in." He cheered quietly.

* * *

Kakashi was having a really bad day - or week in general.

"So this is Naruto's place?" He asked as he looked around the apartment that looked like it wasn't even liveable. The windows were cracked and put together with small stripes of tape, empty cups of ramen was scattered around the small space, dirty clothes, broken furniture put together with tape and the furniture had dirty surfaces, from food, his nose told him. It smelt like ramen.

 _On the topic of food._ Kakashi thought as he picked up a carton of milk standing on a small table and shook it loosely. He winced at the sound it made, not daring to look at the expiration date. _This smells and sounds like it went bad days ago._

"Yes." The small Hokage replied as he held his pipe so that it wouldn't fall. "Naruto isn't very smart but I think that handing him over to you is the best idea. " The elderly man continued.

 _How is that a good idea?_ Kakashi thought with dread.

The apartment was in a horrendous condition and Kakashi already dreaded having to deal with the kid. If his living conditions were anything to go on, then Naruto really wasn't some Kakashi would go well with.

Not that it really mattered.

The team was going to flop like any other team anyway.

"Your team will also have Haruno Sakura, a girl born to Mebuki and Kizashi, I believe you've worked together before." The Hokage told him when he put down the carton with a sigh.

"Yes." Kakashi acknowledged. That meant he had to meet with the pair- something he was definitely not looking forwards to.

"Then you have Sasuke from the Uchiha clan. I believe you will be the best teacher for him."

"Because of the Sharingan." The Jounin continued smoothly and squinted his eye at an odd strain on one of the walls in confusion. His nose couldn't tell what it was.

"Yes." The elderly man said, puffing a bit on his pipe. "I take it that you have heard of his condition."

"Yes. I heard that he's a medical nin now." Kakashi said. It was impressive for someone of Sasuke's young years to become a Medic-nin because of all the knowledge it required. Kakashi was a genius but medical ninjutsu out over the basics was something he never wanted to get into. It took a lifetime to become an official medical ninja, not something Kakashi wanted to spend time on.

"He's been trained by Marion Rukia." The bastard continued as he slowly smirked. "You know each other if my memory serves me right."

"...Yes sir." Kakashi said, fighting the urge to pale and run away or beg the Hokage for a new team.

The old man raised a pale eyebrow at him. "The council want you to focus on offensive ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu with Sasuke. If you pass them of course."

"...Sir?" He asked asked in confusion. The Hokage never did what the council wanted if he didn't agree, so why mention it?

"They feel like he can not represent the Uchiha clan as a medical ninja and have been pressuring Rukia to hand him over to another teacher. Their plan did not work, you know how she is about things she feel belong with her. They felt that he needed his memory back as well," He stopped and looked at Kakashi who bleached. Binging Sasuke's memory back was like forcing him to to go through the massacre again. "I disagree."

The man paused and looked Kakashi in the eye. "They _will_ try and pressure you to neglect the two others and just train Sasuke."

"I see..." Kakashi muttered.

"Let's go see Sakura-chan's parents, shall we?" The Hokage said as he turned to leave the messy apartment.

"Yes sir." The Jounin said and followed the senior shinobi.

* * *

Kakashi's eye curved into a smile as he walked silently through the academy building. He was several hours late and couldn't really wait to mess with the children before failing them.

There were a few good aspects of being a Jounin who got teams shoved onto him at every opportunity. Some would probably call him a demon for enjoying the suffering of others. But you had to cope some way.

 _Ah_. He thought with a cheer, rolling his shoulders in excitement when the door to the room where the genin would be waiting for him, appeared. _A prank! A bad one, but still a prank! I haven't been pranked since I left ANBU!_

Kakashi opened the door slowly, making sure to put his head in first Kakashi masked his surprise when pink glitter burst from where the eraser had landed on his head. _I kinda like them. Too bad that they're going to fail._

"Wahahahah! I told you he'd do it! You fell for it!" The pink haired girl screamed in laughter as she pointed a finger at him.

"I'm sorry sensei! I told her not to do it! But..." the dark haired boy of the group apologised as he blushed in embarrassment.

The blonde genin giggled quietly as he sat up on the table. "Your late." He grinned.

 _...What in the world? That is not how their profiles described them!_ Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he picked up the eraser. _The files were misinformed... or this is part of the prank._

 _They're all ready working together... They might actually have a chance._

"Hmmm... how can I say this?" he said, ignoring the urge to scratch his head - they must have put itching powder in it - as his eye smiled at them. "My first impression is..." he paused and peeked out at their waiting expressions.

"I don't like you guys." He finished bluntly, enjoying the gloomy expression that folded over the two children with lighter hairs faces.

"Mavahaha!" Naruto exclaimed dramatically, shocking his teammates and Kakashi he threw his head back, and crackled like a cliché movie villain. He stopped with a cough and looked at Kakashi expectedly.

"Meet me on the roof." The silver haired man told them and body flickered to the roof, making sure to spread leaves around the room. Just to mess with the cleaners.

 _I like these guys..._

* * *

 _Wow_. Kakashi thought as he looked at his hand which was covered in pink glitter from when he had given into the urge of scratching his head.

He was actually impressed of their trap making. He didn't even see the glitter before it spread out from the eraser and it was too late.

He quickly expelled chakra from his hand as he held it out over the edge of the roof, making the pink glitter explode of it and the cute genin opened the door for the roof exit.

"Let's start by introducing yourselves, one at a time." Kakashi drawled lazily as the three genin sat down on the the roof in front of him and leaned back over the railing.

"What are we supposed to say?" Sasuke asked as he hugged his legs into his chest.

"How about your likes, dislikes..." Kakashi hummed. "Dreams for your future, hobbies. stuff like that."

"hey hey!" Sakura exclaimed. "Why don't you introduce yourself first!?"

"Yeah. You look kinda suspicious..." Sasuke continued.

"Hmm... me?" Kakashi asked as he tapped his chin in thought. "Well I'm Hatake Kakashi. As for my likes and dislikes, I have no desire to tell you about them." He said cryptically. They were a bit too young for that kind of things anyway. He paused for a moment to think about his future. "Dreams for the future... never thought about it. And I have lots of hobbies." _Like reading._ He finished with with a shrug.

The dark haired boy turned to his teammates with an annoyed look as his eyebrow twitched. "All he told us was his name..."

"Your turn, let's start on the right with pinkie." He instructed and focused on the pink haired girl who was wearing a red battle dress, she adjusted her headband - which was used as a hairband.

"Yosh! My name is Haruno Sakura! I like ramen! What I love even more is when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen! What I dislike is the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook! I don't like when people lie and judge people before getting to know them!" She paused, a serious look crossing her face.

 _This must be Naruto..._ Kakashi thought dryly as Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously and glared at his bright teammate.

"My is to surpass the Hokage and have this village acknowledge my existence! Dettebayo!" Naruto, transformed like Sakura Continued.

"As for my hobbies... pranks I guess." He finished.

 _Naruto sure came out a lot like his mother..._

"Next." Kakashi instructed and focused on Naruto who was either Sakura or Sasuke, he looked up and focused on him.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He said brightly and brought his hand up to his forehead in some strange symbol. _So this is Sasuke_. Kakashi had heard that he became a bit strange after losing his memory, like he lived between two worlds the real one and some odd fantasy one. And that he acted like a girl. Which Kakashi could certainly see, just by looking at how the boy was sitting in Naruto's body, his knees drawn together.

"I like lots of things! Like chocolate, lizards, helping people, running, the sky and Hinata and loads of other things . I dislike a lot of this too. My hobbies are cooking, doing cool stuff with my chakra and sleeping. My dream is to become the best medical ninja I can become and have a long life." He finished as he bowed dramatically, his nose almost touching the ground, while sitting. "That's it, I think."

"Alright. Black's turn." Kakashi said to the transformed Sakura as he took in the information, Sasuke sure was a strange kid, not as strange as Naruto, but still strange.

"My name is H-Uchiha Sasuke. The thing I like-" Sakura giggled as a blush spread over her transformed cheeks as she glanced over at Sasuke. "I mean the person I like-"

 _This is very strange..._ Kakashi thought dryly as he looked at what looked like Sasuke gushing over Naruto, like a young girl madly in love.

"Umm... my dreams for the future. Yeah!" She exclaimed in Sasuke's body. A disgusted look crossed her face. "That I hate is Naruto!"

Naruto in Sakura's body cried out in shock at the girl's exclamation.

"My hobby is taking care of my hair and trending to the plants in my family's garden." She finished.

 _Girls are more interested in chasing boys than learning ninjutsu now a days..._ Kakashi sighed to himself. "You can take off transformations now." He told them and eye smiled at them when Naruto and Sakura exclaimed in shock.

 _Sasuke doesn't seem surprised..._

"You knew the whole time!?" Naruto and Sakura screeched in unison as Sasuke smirked and transformed back into his black haired and red clad self with a cloud of smoke.

"Of course he did." The boy told them and glanced slyly at Kakashi. "He is a Jounin, and he probably read our files anyway."

"Then why did you suggest it!?" The two screeched as they transformed back in their own clouds of white smoke.

"...because it's funny? You could see that he was weirded out even though he knew that we were transformed."

Which was true, watching them act like themselves in each other's bodies was probably some of the creepiest of things Kakashi had ever seen. If you acted like he had never seen any of all the corpses he's seen in his lifetime. Then yeah.

"What are you talking about you bastard!?" Naruto challenged as he raised his fist.

"Naruto! Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura screeched at the blonde boy.

So much for having a chance at passing the test. Kakashi thought dryly and coughed to get their attention. "Alright, now that we're done with Introductions. We'll start on shinobi duties tomorrow."

"What kind of duties!?" Naruto asked excitedly and began chanting. "Duties! Duties!"

"Nothing special, just something for the four of us." Kakashi continued, making sure to put a dramatic tint to his tone as he leaned forwards.

"What is it!? What is it!?" Naruto asked, brimming with excitement as he rocked back and forth.

"Survival training." Kakashi told the team as he crossed his arms, a dark look on his face.

"Survival training?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.

"I thought we were done with training in the academy." Sakura Continued.

"This won't be like the academy. _I'm_ going to be your opponent." He told them, and resisted the urge to chuckle. _Not yet..._

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked with excitement his eyes shining with enthusiasm.

Kakashi chuckled nastily, he always enjoyed this part the most.

The kids eyes narrowed as they froze and Kakashi could feel their - well Naruto and Sakura's - fear. Sasuke just raised an unamused eyebrow and stretched his legs.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "What's so funny."

"It's just that when I tell you guys this..." he chuckled slightly as his eye curved into a cruel smile. "You're going to freak out."

"...Freak out?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Kakashi looked a the three darkly. "Out of the 27 graduates only 9 will become genin, the rest will be sent back to the academy. This test has a failure rate of over 66%."

A lie, but they didn't need to know that.

"...What?" Sakura muttered as Naruto gapped in shock.

"But we just became genin! You can't just send us back!" Naruto exclaimed in anger.

Kakashi laughed. "I told you that you'd freak out."

"But we worked so hard to become genin!" Naruto growled. "What was the point of graduating then!?"

"Oh. That was to select those that might become genin."

Naruto gulped and Kakashi almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"66% My ass." Sasuke grunted as as he stretched out over the roof as he lied down.

"Why do you say that?" Kakashi asked, not letting his surprise show as he leaned forwards, intrigued.

"if only nine of the graduates can become genin then that means that the tests are fixed." He raised an arm and looked at his and. "That means we could predict who would pass. Hinata's team - team 8 would pass, because they wouldn't let two clan hires fail the genin exam. The there's Chouji and Shikamaru's team, not only are the two of them clan hires they're also the new Ino-Shika-Cho team. That means that only one other team would be able to pass."

Sasuke flipped back Into a sitting position and leaned on one of his knees. He held up a finger. "And that would be us. Because they wouldn't let the poor last Uchiha fail." He gasped sarcastically as he cupped his cheeks. He removed his hands and looked - glared - Kakashi in the eye. "That is if only 9 can graduate."

 _He saw through my lie by applying simple but effective logic to why it couldn't be true._ Kakashi thought as Sasuke's two teammates gaped at him. This team could actually be interesting to test... _But I have to be more careful now that they know that I'm going to trick them._

"What!?" Naruto gaped as he pointed a finger at Sasuke, looking at Kakashi. "Is that true!?"

"It was a lie I made up to make you sweat." Kakashi confirmed bluntly.

"Why the hell would you do that!?" Sakura screeched, her hair standing up like a cat in anger.

"As I told you. To make you sweat." Kakashi replied shamelessly.

"You are one hard banana." Sasuke said as he fiddled with his backpack. "Chocolate?" He held out a piece of brown sweet after throwing one one to each of his teammates.

"No thanks." Kakashi declined with a small wave. "Anyway. You have to meet up with me training ground 7 tomorrow. Bring every weapon you have, the test will require your best."

The three nodded with serious looks looks in their eyes as Kakashi jumped down from the railing. "Here, all the details are on this paper." He told them with an eye smile as he handed out the papers to them and visible determination rose in the three.

"Don't be late!" He announced cheerfully, and left them on the roof in a Body Flicker.

"And Sasuke? Get your headband fixed." Kakashi said to the dark haired kid as he body flickered back again.

"I like it as it is." The kid replied as he stuck his tongue out at him, adjusting the headband tied around his left arm.

Kakashi sighed and flickered away again as his thoughts flew.

He had some plans that needed to to be changed. Sasuke was smart and paranoid enough that his normal test would not work. "This is exciting!" Kakashi said out loud as he looked out over the village when he landed smoothly on the roof of one taller buildings.

He hadn't really been challenged for a while, the graduates were always dull and boring. They never did anything out of the ordinary. His missions were always the same, there were times when some missing nin would interrupt the mission, but Kakashi had begun to feel himself growing dull.

He hadn't even noticed to pink powder in the eraser. If his team would have wanted it, then he would be dead now.

Kakashi could feel his bones brimming and twitching with energy. He could feel how his revelations made his surroundings stand out clearer than ever before.

Kakashi was going to have fun tomorrow.

* * *

 **Uchiha Sasuke's diary - journal dammit.**

 _Entry 14:_

A shadowed man came up and talked to me today when I was researching the disappearance of that one student from my class.

Other children has been disappearing too and the ANBU has begun to show themselves around the village.

I'm getting closer...

\- Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: What kind of test is this!?**

* * *

 **Review answering time! -thing!**

To DarkDust27: _I'm happy that you want more! So keep watch for Chapter 8 which is also up around the 9 thousands!_

To anon Kent: _I really enjoyed writing that part, so I'm glad you liked it!_

To anon Kzen: _Ah, I'm teasing you by not showing what they talked about. I'm so mean!_

To : _Ah the curse of being overpowered. No Sasuke won't be overpowered, that role actually belongs to someone else lol. (I've also put up some stats on my profile that I'm going to update as the chapters update, feel free to look.)_

To InARealPickle: _Thanks for pointing out that I made a giant spelling mistake with quarantine._

To Dedicated4reading and IronScript: _it's great to know that people enjoy the story! So thank you both for the nice comments._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I've made a stat list, which I put on my profile. So take a peek if you get curious about the character's strengths and weaknesses, be mindful that even if some one has a higher stat it doesn't mean that they automatically wins in a fight. (May contain spoilers in the future)**

 **I hope you people enjoyed the chapter, and remember constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

 **-Kenjo C**


	8. Chapter 8: What kind of test is this?

_I do not own Naruto. If I did, then I would be better at drawing._

* * *

 **Chapter 8: What kind of test is this!?**

* * *

The person now known as Uchiha Sasuke's was generally a happy person. He could find amusement in the smallest things, like finding a beautiful butterfly, take long runs on his amazingly light feet or watching Anko-san practically melt after tasting his pizza for the first time. It was one of the easier recipes he had known, and it was really simple and could actually be half assed with the wrong ingredients for the dough.

Sasuke would openly admit that he cheats when he can get away with it.

And with openly, he meant admitting it to himself, not other people.

Cheating and half assing a recipe wouldn't work all that well back in the other world, (people did have different ways of doing making the same kind of food, but he could half add the recipe he was taught) but since no one even knew about the particular type of cuisine in this shinobi infested world... well they couldn't say that he was doing it wrong when he was the first person to make it for them.

Anko had really loved the food and had proceeded to beg - or threatening if you prefer the less censored version - him for more. Sasuke had agreed with great haste, if she taught him some things of course.

And she had.

She had taught him a seduction genjutsu, which was oddly enough a really cool jutsu. It wasn't anything he would show at his genin exam though, just thinking about the fuss made Sasuke wince.

And how to dodge thrown weapons. Which was painful.

The snake. Pun intended.

And he liked her, why? He had no idea. He was sure that it was just him preferring female company, and because he was secretly a closet masochist.

Without even realising it.

She was a strong person, like Naruto. They were strong in ways he'd never think about even attempting to be. The biased behaviour pointed at the two was staggering and really made Sasuke want to break someone's arm. Naruto was an idiot, but he was also one of the strongest people Sasuke knew.

He had asked Anko - while she had been pacing around, waiting as he prepared some bacon and egg - about why the whole village, civilian and shinobi alike, treated her like she was some sort of traitor.

She told him that her old teacher had betrayed Konoha, committing many unforgivable crimes and that she had been found, missing pieces of her memory after he had been confronted for his crimes. She told him about how most people thought that she was a sleeper agent, she even told him, her face sullen, about how she didn't know if she really was a sleeper agent.

Sasuke couldn't help but admire people like her.

Sasuke told her that he could be one too for all he knew, he didn't know past Sasuke except from what others told him, and that his own arrival here had some strange circumstances.

He still didn't really know-

She had laughed at him and told him how people would never even believe that he could be a spy. He was their precious little Uchiha.

Sasuke cringed at the thought. It was just ridiculous how much faith the village had in him, the civilians saw him as a second coming of the first Hokage - someone who would stand above the rest - because of his hairitage. The majority of Konoha's shinobi saw him as the hope of Konoha, the last Uchiha, someone who would rise above the rest. The hospital's staff saw him as the second coming of Senju Tsunade, someone who would become a pioneer in medical ninjutsu, because of his ability to cure chakra poisoning.

Considering that he sucked at fighting... well he'd probably never become the second coming of the first Hokage - not that he really wanted to.

It was amazing how someone like Anko who had been in his shoes once - someone who was predicted to become the second coming of the famed strongest sannin Orochimaru - could fall so far and so fast in the eyes of the people.

Sheep were stupid.

She had laughed at his comment.

But he was getting off topic on his small ranting internal monologue, or so mister Shadow told him with a growl.

 _So moody._

So back to the topic at hand, excitement and happiness.

Sasuke was a person who loved finding reasons to love life, to find reasons to be happy, even in the darkest of times. To find the small spark of light in the shadows of despair and hold onto it, nursing it until it could spread it's wings and fly away, sending its light to all the dark corners.

Some might call it naive.

But Sasuke preferred calling it taking a chance for light instead of giving up.

It was oddly poetic for him.

Maybe it was because he wanted to be that person.

 _Am I decently happy now?_ Sasuke asked in his mind as he rolled his eyes.

Sasuke was doing a little experiment with his resident crazy psycho shadow, whom Sasuke theorized was a coping mechanism for suddenly waking up in some strange world, which had a 90% chance to be from some book he never bothered to read.

 _ **How should I know?**_ Mister Shadow growled as his black hands - claws - mentally shoved him. _**It was your idea that you needed happy thoughts to do it...**_

"Right." Sasuke sighed out loud as he moved a bit and made the blue hammock (which decorated with white stars) he was lying in, continue its rhythmic swinging. He moved his hand up above his face and sighed in frustration when the black chakra didn't even so much as twitch.

"Come on, poison chakra! Thing!" He exclaimed like some cartoon hero and swung his hand to his side, extending it out from the hammock. Sasuke groaned in frustration as he let his arm hang out the side when nothing happened. _Happy thoughts._ Sasuke rubbed his eyes as he tried to calm himself when Mister Shadows deep laughter rang through his head.

They were trying to see if Sasuke could do a cliché hero power up. They hadn't been successful so far. Sasuke had suggested that maybe, because he could move the black chakra inside him, then maybe he'd be able to release it as some sort og attack.

Instant power up.

"You. Are. Not. Helping." He gritted out, glaring at his arm filled with black chakra.

 _ **'I think I'm an awesome person who's helping more than you think, you stupid useless bitch.'**_

"Go back to the hole you came from!" Sasuke snarled, throwing up his hands in frustration as he closed his eyes in an attempt to control his rapidly rising anger. Why did that guy have to be so...

 _ **'I told your bitchiness that I knew what I was doing.'**_ The shadow man suddenly gloated as something kicked at Sasuke's leg, making the Uchiha open his eyes.

Sasuke screamed when he saw the looming shadow standing over him, glaring at him with red eyes. Sasuke fell out of the hammock and down to the grassy ground in shock as the slided pupil widened slightly, transforming into a more circular shape.

"Wha? H-h-how!?" He screeched at the cloud of black chakra that was slowly settling in the shape of mister Shadows looming form as he backed - crawled -away from it, until he hit the trunk of a tree.

 **"Well,"** his deep voice drawled as he moved his pitch black hands over his head and through something looking suspiciously like Sasuke's own hairstyle. **"I didn't expect this either. congratulations girly, you actually managed to surprise me."**

"How do you get back-" Sasuke began but stopped as an idea glowed in his mind. "Actually, don't ever come back. I'm tired of your dirty mouth, your smell, ( **I don't have an odor** ) your creepy - and totally not cool - red eyes following me everywhere and your blant invasions of my privacy, especially the last one."

He roared a deep and scratching laugh at Sasuke, making the boy's eyebrow twitch. **"Oh that's so fucking funny! You know me Sasuke."** He drawled as he began sitting down across from the boy who was leaning casually up against a tree in fake courage. **"You know what would happen! We practically share mind! What do you fucking expect will happen? We have a nice shitty family dinner? No no. I'll tell you what'll happen, first I'm going to-"**

"I get it!" Sasuke interrupted with a growl. "Blah blah blah, destruction, evil stuff, blah blah blah."

 **"You got it."** He smirked at Sasuke, his too white teeth glowing against his black and flowing form.

"Just get back inside." Sasuke requested as he held out his hand to mister Shadow.

 **"Like hell I will."** Shadow told Sasuke as his red eyes winked at him in a strange and scary gesture. **"I want to taste your food."**

Sasuke groaned in frustration, deciding to just roll with it as he stood up and turned to the shadow. "Can you do anything about... that," He grunted as he waved at mister Shadows shadowy form. "I can't really have people see that."

 **"I'm not the fucking shinobi in this stupid relationship."**

Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Genjutsu it is."

His life sucked so much ass sometimes.

* * *

"Hey Naruto, excited for the test? Sasuke asked with a yawn when he saw the blonde boy sitting on top of the middle pole, of three wooden poles when entered the area that Kakashi had instructed that they meet him in.

"You bet I am!" He cheered energetically and lost his balance, almost falling down from his tall seat. The boy turned away from Sasuke in a strangely uncharacteristic show of quietness with a consecrated look on his face that Sasuke could only guess came from Naruto daydreaming about beating up Kakashi-sensei as his hands twitched every now and then.

Sasuke could take an educated guess that the meeting with Kakashi had unnerved Naruto a great deal. Especially when he found out that the man had been lying.

Sasuke guessed that there _was_ some limitations.

"So what did you eat for breakfast?" Sasuke decided to ask and twitched in annoyance when Naruto ignored him.

* * *

So here Sasuke was, watching a small black insect that flapped it's wings slightly as it stopped walking as he waited for his last teammate to arrive. It rubbed it's head with its front legs and began continuing it's walk through the long and unkempt grass straws.

Sasuke frowned as he looked up from the small insect walking around in a circle around a straw of grass, when Sakura came running into view.

"Hi Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted in excitement like the creepy fangirl she unfortunately was, waving to him when she saw him watching her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed in happiness as he snapped his head over to the pink haired girl, who completely ignored him in favour of staring stars at Sasuke.

"Hey Sakura," He greeted in return, taking a moment to mentally prepare himself as she began running to him. "Can I talk to you a bit?" He asked her as he stood up to greet her.

She blushed and moved her legs as she stood still. "You want to talk with me?" Sakura asked, her voice filled with hope.

"Yeah." Sasuke muttered as walked over to her and gently wrapped his hand around her wrist as he began dragging the blushing girl away from their blonde teammate who looked like he was about to burst from too much blood I'm his brain.

Sasuke stopped when they got to an admittedly beautiful area with the trees casting stunning shadows which mixed beautifully with the light seeping through the leaves. The small stream running through the small clearing was like the icing on the top. "If we're going to become real teammates then I need you to stop being a creepy fangirl. I'm sorry but i'll probably never be able to feel the same for you," Sasuke told her blunt he turned to her, trying to ignore the hurt look that crossed her eyes. "You're adorable as hell, but I just won't get together with you."

Her mouth opened a bit as her eyebrows curved up into her hairline. "I," She stopped, moving her jaw around, and her eyes blazed. She stood there for some time, and Sasuke looked over at the small stream, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, even if the situation was insanely awkward. "...Ino?" Sakura asked as she glanced away from him when Sasuke looked back at her.

"No," Sasuke told her, wincing at the mental image that she triggered. _Maybe when they're older and i don't feel like a... creep._ "Uh- sorry but that'll probably never happen either." He scratched his neck and Sakura's expression closed off as she studied his face.

"I understand. Hinata is nice, she's good for you." Sakura finally said, her fingers fiddling with the the soft edge of her battle dress.

"What!?" Sasuke exclaimed in surprise, jumping back a bit in instinct as he waved his arms around. "What no! No, no no no! That's- that's like-"

Sakura's eyes widened like an owl and Sasuke could almost see the light bulb turn on over hear head as something strange clicked in her facial expression. "I see," she said and fiddled with her hair, running her fingers through her bangs before focusing on him as her face became obvious fake bravery. "I understand Sasuke-kun." She told him, her voice low and mechanical.

Whit her final word in, Sakura left, her legs wobbling slightly as she practically fled from him.

"...What?"

 **"You got owned, bitch."** Mister Shadow laughed in his mind, giving his mind a shove.

"...But I had more I wanted to talk about," Sasuke whined, falling down to his knees.

 _And just when I had mustered up the courage..._

* * *

Naruto frowned inside, his jealously spiking slightly in annoyance when Sakura came running back to the meeting area, only stopping when she saw him sitting on the pole. "Heya Sakura-chan!" He greeted with a bright smile, her beautiful hair and eyes always brightened his days - especially when they shone with positive emotions. She was even beautiful when she was angry.

"Hey." She whispered back as she slid down the pole to his left.

Naruto frowned visibly at the way her lips tugged down. "What did the bastard do?" He growled, angry that the 'too good to react' Sasuke had said something to make his beautiful teammate sad.

"...Naruto? What do you know about Sasuke-kun?" She suddenly asked slowly after a moment of silence, glancing out into the distance, her expression distant.

"He's a bastard, plain and simple! Always doing things that help himself. He never really gets angry, like he doesn't feel like anything really affects him, he lies and he cheats all the time." He spat, letting his frustrations with the dark haired boy out into the world.

Sakura didn't reply and she seemed disappointed in his answer as she sighed, turning her face away from him as she looked at the stone with the names.

"He's a good person," Naruto told her as he took a moment to think over the bastard good qualities when she brightened up a bit. "He likes to help people, even if he has a strange way of doing it. It feels like he does a lot things for those he likes, even if it costs him something. He also likes helping strangers, I think he might get off on helping people. He- Errr," Naruto paused again, not really able to find anything else.

"What?" He asked when she continued stare at him, her mouth slightly agape.

"Sorry, it's just..." She trailed off, staring out behind him before snapping her gaze back to him. "That was actually kind of deep."

She just gave him a praise- Sakura-chan just complimented him. "You think!?" He asked in excitement and leaned over the pole to look at her stunning eyes. Maybe she'd go it with him? She seemed impressed by him-

He frowned when a spark of something akin to a calm irritation entered the air and he looked over to where Sasuke sauntered out of the trees as he tried to casually pull a few branches out of his hair. Sasuke's cool effect was ruined by the fact that he began to wildly tug at the branch, which had somehow gotten stuck in his hair.

"Hey," The boy greeted smoothly like he hadn't just wrestled with the sticks in his hair as he waved one of the sticks at them. "Why isn't he he here yet!?" Sasuke growled as he jumped up on the pole to Naruto's right in one swift movement and sat down on it, pulling out a hairbrush from somewhere Naruto didn't catch.

"Don't ask us." Naruto growled back loudly in irritation as Sasuke began brushing his hair, looking like a movie princess all the while. How Sasuke managed to seem so girly was something Naruto would probably never know. "How should we know?"

"You're the one with the freaky emotion thing." Sasuke told him in an accusing tone as he carefully tugged at his hair with the red hair brush. "Maybe you sensed his emotions."

"It's not freaky, and I wouldn't even know it was there if not for you." Naruto growled back offended. "And I seem to remember you saying that it was awesome!"

"Of course it's awesome! But I can't freaking lie to you!" Sasuke replied, throwing his hands - and hairbrush - up into the air.

"Oh my God." Sakura said, interrupting their augment as her eyes brightened in some realization that only she knew what was. Sakura suddenly stood up as she muttered something in excitement and began walking away from her two male teammates. "I'll be right over here." She shouted to them when she plopped herself up against the odd stone, turning herself away from them.

"Don't mind me." She told them after a long moment of awkward silence and returned to her own thoughts.

"I don't understand." Naruto said in confusion, her emotions where a strange mix of some sort of strange accepting sadness.

"Aren't you the creepy one?" Sasuke countered with an air of playfulness.

"Aren't you the one who tried to convince me that that demon food was good?" Naruto countered back, watching in satisfaction as the bastards aura flared with carefully concealed embarrassment and Innocence, but it wasn't quite hidden enough.

"It was a prank," Sasuke replied dryly. "It's supposed to be embarrassing... just not that embarrassing."

"I couldn't walk for a week!" Naruto gagged. "Just thinking about makes me sick..."

"But there came something good from it right?" Sasuke whispered and Naruto felt the boy's eye roll.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted. "It's totally awesome."

Truth be told, Naruto would rather that he didn't discover what the strange airs surrounding people meant. His life had been easier when he thought everyone could see the strange auras and that they didn't really mean anything, he never really paid attention to why or how they changed and he only really noticed them when he was brood- thinking! Thinking - Naruto doesn't brood. He had sometimes been able to tell when people were lying to him, it was almost instinctual. But he had assumed that it was normal, that everyone got these flashes of strange things that he now knew were the person's emotional state. He had also become hypersensitive to it now that he knew about his unique ability.

Naruto knew what most of the people he had once thought looked at him in anger and confusing resentment, actually looked at him in masked fear. It killed him inside to know, to walk through the villages, a smile on his lips as people retreated away from him in fear.

Sensing emotions was like sensing colors, feeling colors, hearing colors. He felt the ever changing colors, he brushed at them, felt them inside. They affected him, and that was probably the worst part. He became sad when others were sad, he became happy by being surrounded by happy people. They didn't always affect him, but the emotions of those he held precious always had an effect on him. And strong feelings too. He had felt Iruka-sensei's suffering when mizuki had betrayed them, and it was heartbreaking.

The strongest emotions, could give him a terrible headache if they were potent enough. Like the fear of the villages, he had a constant humming headache that wouldn't stop every time he walked through the village.

It was so annoying.

Heartbreaking, but so annoying.

A part of him resented the new and nicer Sasuke for discovering his unique ability and making him subconsciously hone it until he could do it without thought.

Another part of him loved how the new Sasuke always acknowledged his abilities and praised him for it - even if his words told him otherwise.

Naruto knew that Sasuke meant it when he told Naruto that he believed that he could become Hokage. He also knew that Iruka-sensei believed so too.

It didn't work on most shinobi though. Like Kakashi-sensei, Naruto only got a lazy boredom from the strange man, nothing else. He knew that the man was just too good at masking himself, Naruto would have known that the man was lying about the 66% fail rate without Sasuke peeling the lie right off Naruto's brain.

It hadn't worked on Mizuki either. Naruto didn't even know that the man had masked his emotions because it hadn't been one stream of constant emotion. His emotions had gone from pity to gentle care, and Naruto had believed him, because the others had always only had one emotion in the air around them.

Naruto knew better now. People could project a series of fake emotions that seemed believable until his world crashed in on him at the night of the final exam day.

* * *

Naruto perked up when a wave of boredom and laziness washed over the clearing and Kakashi-sensei poofed into the clearing.

"Yo!" He greeted cheerily as he waved at them.

"Your late!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed at the grey haired man and Sakura stood up angrily as she shouted her own angry agreement. Sasuke just gave a sleepy snore in greeting as he slept on through the commotion.

"I'm afraid that I had to help an elderly lady cross the road, and then a black cat crossed our path so we were forced to take the long way around." The man told them as his eye _smiled._

"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura screeched, pointing at the man.

The man made calming - was he cooing? - sounds before focusing his steely eye on their sleeping teammate.

"I see we have a sleeping beauty." The Jounin drawled lazily as he sauntered over to the pole where Sasuke was sleeping as the dark haired boy balanced on top of it, the two bells tied to his pants jiggling at the moment. A flash of vengeance splashed through the air and Naruto sprang from the pole he was sitting on - intent on catching the dark haired boy - as the older man pushed his hand against Sasuke's chest with a quiet. "Oops."

Fear flashed through the air and naruto froze, a headache blooming as a giant shadow suddenly loomed over them. It was a giant creature, it looked like a giant reptile standing on two legs. It had short arms folded by its enormous breast and it opened its scaled mouth, revealing a long row of long teeth as it roared at all of them with the most ear shattering sound Naruto had ever experienced, it's eyes gleamed at them with the strange red eyes Sasuke had called his bloodline - whatever that was and the area around them disappeared in shadows. Everything happened as Sasuke screamed after Kakashi-sensei had pushed him, the giant reptile, the wall of darkness surrounding them. Naruto froze when Sakura's fear penetrated his mind and she screamed the moment the giant roared, looking like it was about to eat them.

A giant burst of chakra almost threw Naruto off his feet and the menacing reptile disappeared in a second, like it was never there, letting the sun shine light down at them.

"...what happened?" Sakura was the first to speak when she regained her breath.

" _What the fuck is wrong with you!?_ " Sasuke screeched in a language that Naruto didn't know, his red eyes flashing in anger and the creepy black tomoes spun slowly around his pupil as he glared at the teacher whose air had changed slightly. " _You don't just fucking push people_."

"Maa, Sasuke-kun that wasn't too nice." The man said as his air returned to the normal lazy boredom.

Naruto glanced back down at Sasuke who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily as his chest rose and fell rapidly with his breathing. Sasuke's eyes flashed back to black and their sensei brought a hand up to his forehead, doing something to his forehead protector that Naruto couldn't see from his angle.

"Please just don't do that again." Sasuke glared at him, an air of anger surrounding him. It was strange for Naruto to feel that particular emotion from Sasuke and having him pointing it at someone was even stranger.

Kakashi-sensei sighed as he crouched down and helped up the dark haired boy, who had looked too stunned to move from the ground by himself.

"Alright," Kakashi-sensei said as he withdrew a white scroll tied together with a small pink bow from his pouch, dismissing what had just happened with a wave of his hand. Sasuke leaned against one of the poles as he crossed his arms and Kakashi continued. "Your test is going to be a mission. All the details are in the scroll." Kakashi told them as he showed them the scroll.

"Bye."

With that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves and the whte medium sized scroll fell down on the soft grass.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke muttered as Naruto went to pick up the scroll. "I'm kinda afraid of falling from heights."

"It's okay." Sakura said gently before turning to Naruto. "What does it say?"

"Mission!" Naruto cheered when the air cleared up and his teammates gathered around him.

"It really does says mission," Sasuke laughed as he looked curiously over Naruto's shoulder. "Let's open it."

"Wait!" Sakura cried when Naruto began untying the small twisted string that was holding it closed. "It might be trapped."

"Why would he trap it?" Naruto asked in confusion as he tilted his head, a gesture that made Hinata's air turn strange. He handed the possibly booby trapped scroll to Sasuke, who held out his hand.

"Who knows?" Sakura muttered. "But we can't rule out the possibility."

"I say we sacrifice a Naruto clone for it." Sasuke said as he turned the scroll around in his hands.

"But clones can't touch it because genjutsu can't touch, you know that Sasuke-kun." Sakura lectured and Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

"Not if it's a ninjutsu based clone." Sasuke smirked at Naruto, his emotions bordering giddiness as Sakura looked over at him, confused.

"What?"

Sasuke slapped his forehead after Naruto's question. "Shadow clones." He elaborated. "We get them to open it."

" _Oh_." Naruto breathed with realization and formed the cross used for the jutsu with his hands as five clones poofed into existence. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Sakura's jaw dropped when Sasuke gave one of his clones the scroll and she fumbled with her words for a few seconds. "Yeah - yeah, that would work."

The clone walked a good distance away from them before untying the string, the copy held the scroll out away from him as he slowly opened it up. They all breathed loudly in relief when nothing happened to the clone and Naruto dispelled the copies after the chosen opener handed it over to Sakura.

She glanced it over before reading the mission for them. "The mission is a simple search and rescue mission. The reward is officially becoming genin, you have 9 hours in total," She paused in her reading before continuing. "This mission has two stages. Number one is to find a box, wherein you will find more instructions. The tip for the boxes location is: the teachers teachers teachers teacher." She finished.

"That makes absolutely no sense." Sasuke said after a period of time spent in silence.

"No shit." Naruto agreed in aggravation.

Why couldn't Kakashi-sensei have made an easier test? Teachers teachers teacher - or was it with another teacher. "Ah!" Naruto shouted, holding his head in frustration. "Why is this so hard!?"

"It's obviously Kakashi-sensei's teachers teachers teacher." Sakura told them like she was talking about the weather.

Naruto blinked at her. "I think I get it," Sakura was so smart... "kinda."

"You're the brains of this group now." Sasuke stated and Sakura-chan blushed at the praise.

"But we still need to find out who taught Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke frowned. "We could ask around."

Sakura nodded in agreement and focused on Sasuke, her blush making her look cuter. "Sasuke-kun, you can go see if you can find something in the library -"

"-we have a library!?" Naruto exclaimed in shock. He hadn't known that.

"-You'll be able to find something faster than we could with your Sharingan, and you'll speed it up by taking some of Naruto's clones with you," She continued as she ignored his outburst and looked over at Naruto. "We can ask around, see if we can a find someone who knows or knew him."

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed impatiently, intent on quickly finishing the test.

"Wait, Naruto!" Sakura shouted behind him, when he began running out of the training ground. "We need to plan some more!"

 _Who needs planning!?_

* * *

"Hi! do you know Kakashi-sensei!? We need to find out who his sensei was!" Naruto asked the western gate keepers loudly and Sakura-chan's air turned to embarrassment as she slapped her forehead. Naruto didn't know why asking them would be embarrassing but then again he wasn't a girl. But he hoped that if he was a girl, then he'd be as cute and smart as Sakura-chan.

"Hatake Kakashi?" The brown haired man asked, his voice calm and collected and Naruto narrowed his eyes when the man's air turned playful. "Sorry naruto, I'm afraid that I can't say."

"You're lying!" Naruto countered, smashing his palms on the desk in front of the man. "I know you are!"

"Naruto! He said he didn't know!" Sakura growled at him, holding her fist up in warning.

"Well Naruto is right miss Haruno. But I can give you a tip." He told them as his blonde partner greeted some travelers entering the village. The man - who apparently knew Naruto and Sakura's name even though they didn't know who he was or even introduced them self - leaned over the wooden desk and told them in a whisper. "Favourite foods."

"But Kakashi didn't say anything about his favourite food..." Sakura murmured when the brown haired shinobi turned away from them to look at some papers.

"Hey!? What did you mean by that!?" Naruto growled in irritation when the man ignored them.

"... means we would have to find out what his favourite food was, or maybe it's our own favourite foods..." Sakura pondered as Naruto snarled. "knock it off Naruto! he's only telling us what Kakashi-sensei told him to do!" She shouted at him, an aura of irritation surrounding her.

"I need you to check your favourite food place for any clues- send a clone!" She whispered, pulling the eager boy back by his collar. "We need to go ask Sasuke what his favourite is, and I need you to send a clone to Manshi sweets. My favorite food is Shiratama anmitsu, and your's is obviously ramen."

"Alright Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, blushing at the attention as she ordered some clones he made to do the different jobs.

"Let's go find Sasuke-kun." Sakura told him as she began walking away from the gates.

* * *

"We don't allow his kind of people here." The woman sneered at them and Sakura narrowed her eyes in anger.

They - Naruto and herself had gone to the library to find Sasuke-kun so that they could find out what his favourite food was. But the librarian, a woman of average height, average appearance with her straw blonde hair and blue eyes, had refused to let them in when she saw Naruto.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Sakura said politely. "can you clarify?"

The woman sized her up for a lack of a better word. "I already told you miss..." She trailed off in suggestion that Sakura wasn't important enough for her to remember Sakura's name even though they just introduced themselves.

 _ **Cha! Who does this lady think she is!?**_ Inner growled.

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura." She replied easily, copying an introduction she had heard Sasuke give once.

 _ **Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke.**_ Her inner supplied in a replica of the boy's ho- voice.

"Well miss Haruno, like I said, we don't welcome his kind here." The woman sneered at them in a polite tone - and how was that even possible - as she refused them entry.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto said slowly and Sakura winced inside at the carefully concealed hurt in his voice. "I can just wait here."

Sakura ignored her blonde teammate in favour of glaring at the woman. "I know that Naruto is a moron who doesn't know know when to stop bugging you, that he always plays annoying pranks and that he's too loud and childish to be a shinobi. But none of those things justify you refusing to let us through, so that we can meet up with Sasuke-kun."

The woman stopped glaring and glanced over to naruto, her eyes widening. "Uchiha Sasuke?" She asked and focused back on Sakura.

"He's our third teammate." Sakura clarified, biting back what she really wanted to tell this woman when the silence stretched a bit too long for her tastes.

The woman's sky blue eyes flickered back to Naruto and she stepped back. "Be quick about it." She growled and returned back behind her desk, slamming the books she was working with a bit more force.

"Thank you." Sakura said through gritted teeth as she gently gestured for Naruto to follow her inside.

The library section had dark wooden shelves stacked up with books, the bookshelves were around three meters tall with planks and more bookshelves laying on top of the ones in her height in a cross pattern as they acted like a second floor. It was very exciting to be in the library, not just because of the books, but because of the inventive design. The first Hokage had made sure that the library, which had a very small selection back then, could be expanded. There were even space enough to make another floor.

"Figures," The boy muttered as they glanced down the rows of bookshelves, trying to find the dark haired boy. "It's always Sasuke..."

"Her behaviour was completely uncalled for." Sakura growled lowly. Had it always been like this for Naruto? She remembered the teachers from the academy ignoring, sending him away or being downright vile to him, but it had always fit in some way. Her eyes widened in realization, why had it always seemed normal? Naruto had obviously been mistreated, he didn't even know that there was a library, but she had never noticed for some reason...

Had a she been too busy chasing a lost cause to look around her? "Naruto..." She said slowly when he looked down a lane marked 39, going over the words in her mind. "Has it always been like this..?"

"Huh!?" He asked, looking at her with an admittedly adorable expression that made her realise what Hinata saw in him, if he wasn't so loud and annoying all the time. "What are you talking about?"

"The way the lady treated you." She whispered. "Do they always-"

"Bastard!" Naruto suddenly shouted as he began running away from her until he skidded -very loudly - to a stop by one of the bookshelves further down. "What's your favourite food!?"

"- do that." Sakura finished as her eye twitched in annoyance.

 _ **'We were talking to you, you midget!'**_ Inner growled.

"Naruto?" Sasuke-kun's level voice asked followed by the snap of a book being closed. "What are you doing here? Did you find who the teacher something long was?" The talking boy said as he appeared by Naruto, a book tucked under his arm.

He looked around when the sound of her footsteps echoed slightly against the tall shelves as she walked over to them. He waved at her in greeting. "Did you find anything?" He asked, deciding that she was a better source of information. Inner screamed in delight.

"We got another tip." Sakura told him, ignoring inners frantic excitement. "What's your favourite food?"

"... I don't have one?" He asked as he scratched his neck. "Chicken? No, pasta. No." He paused with a shrug. "I don't know, there's too many."

 _Oh no you don't!_ Sakura growled when Naruto's face turned sour.

"You're completely useless!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he pointed at Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Sakura screeched as she glared at him. Why couldn't the blonde stop being so loud and annoying!? "Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!"

"I don't mind," The boy confessed and dramatically pulled the unwilling blonde who yelped in surprise into a hug giant hug. "I know he loves me!"

"Deep inside..." he continued with a mysterious whisper as he hugged her smaller boys head to his chest.

Inner stopped her howling which was honestly giving her to headache to blink owlish at the two boys like Sakura was.

 _ **We kinda already-**_ Inner began but was silenced by Sakura's mental foot in her face. _We don't go there._ She growled, not daring to let her mind go in that direction again.

Sasuke's eyes snapped up to her and Sakura froze as he forcefully held the blonde in his grip, and before Sakura knew what was happening, she was being hugged into Naruto by Sasuke.

Her brain exploded somewhere in the distance.

* * *

"It should be somewhere around here..." Sakura muttered to Naruto's right as the team looked around the uneven surface of jiji's large and younger looking stone face.

It was now around seven and a half hours - or so Sasuke told them based on the sun - since Kakashi-sensei put them on this wild goose chase. That meant that they had one and a half hour left. The man had hidden small puzzles around the village from verbal to word puzzles which would reveal the location of another riddle, and another and then another. And another, and then a few more, just for good measure.

He had also made several mind games as Naruto's teammates had said they were called for them to fix for the next clue, or the next location of a puzzle.

The worst one was when they had to find the key in a small coded text. Which they then had to use to get some information to the strange man with green hair, who would give them a shovel they had to deliver to a woman, who gave them a cat that needed to be feed but to feed it they had needed to complete a task for two other people. And when they had feeded the cat then the lady gave them a small strange toy. That Sasuke and Sakura knew what was, but the bastard had refused to tell Naruto what it was, claiming that he was too naive. The bastard. Which they needed to give to some rundown and shadowed place called the purring kitten in the red light district.

Which didn't have any red lights, so Naruto didn't really understand why anyone would name it that. People were strange sometimes.

Sakura had refused to go inside or be left alone on the street for some unexplained reason, but her aura had shown both fear and disgust from his pink crush. So Sasuke had gone inside the building alone, bringing the toy with him while Naruto and Sakura had waited outside. Sasuke had come out again after a decent amount of time, his shoulder length hair slightly ruffled and a smug and slightly uneasy - but mostly smug - air flowing around him as he gave them the next items. They were given a set of belts with some strange black cat suit and a brown package.

"Ohhh kinky." Sasuke had laughed as Sakura had blushed so much that Naruto got worried that she lost all the blood in her body. "Someone's into B&D." The bastard had continued smoothly as he ignored Sakura-chan's growing distress.

The team had to give the package to an old pervert who didn't give them anything to deliver another place.

They gave the catsuit and belts to a nice couple who blushed at them as they awkwardly handed over a large medical pouch, sasuke said was called an APB, short for All Purpose Bag.

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto had then gone to the hospital where they were handed a green shirt for a woman who had forgotten it after a long stay.

The team had been ambushed on their way out of the large hospital building and given a hug from some crazy brown haired lady named Rukia, who apparently knew Sasuke and wanted to meet his new team. It seemed like she was Sasuke's medical ninjutsu master and that even if Kakashi failed them then Sasuke would still be able to become a shinobi because of his work as a medic-nin. "Remember Sasuke," the woman had said, focusing on her student after looking at Naruto in distrust. "You can always become a genin through the hospital if ' _Kakashi I don't pass anyone'_ fails you."

Naruto had been understandably confused by what the woman had just told his teammate, Naruto had been told you could only become genin through the academy, and that was only every half year.

"Kakashi has never passed a single team out of the twelve, or something he's been assigned to." the lady explained. "He doesn't really want a team anyway."

"What about the rest of us?" Sakura had snarled in surprise, dread filling up her air.

"I don't know" The green eyed woman had said truthfully as she shrugged before hugging Sasuke and running of to her work.

"Don't worry, we'll pass for sure." Sasuke had said after a long period of silence, holding his fist out.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura had shouted, throwing her own fist out and bumped it lightly against Sasuke's.

"Yeah!" Naruto had agreed as he had bumped his fit against theirs. "Together! Team 7!"

"Together!" His teammates had agreed simultaneously.

"Hey..." Sasuke had suddenly said, frowning slightly as he looked at the pink haired beauty of their team, drawing both their attention on him like water to a sponge. "Why did you want to become a shinobi?"

Sakura had looked at Sasuke with a confused expression. "Do you mean why I entered the academy?"

"Yeah." Sasuke had clarified. "Naruto obviously wanted to get recognition and become Hokage, and not me probably joined from clan traditions, I joined because I wanted to survive this hell hole of our world and to help people as a medic. But I just can't figure you out."

"Oh." Sakura had blushed, glancing down the street littered with people as she got a faraway look in her eyes . "My parents once took me out travelling, and we bumped into a traveling circus filled with nice people, they took us with them for a while. We were attacked by bandits after as few days, my mom and dad who was shinobi's back then saved us. They fought off the bandits, but the whole circus would have been sold as slaves if we hadn't been there. That's when I decided to become a shinobi so that I could help those who can't help themselves."

"Wow, you're almost making me feel bad for my own reasonings." Sasuke had laughed playfully as he had slung an arm around both of theirs shoulders, bringing them into a hug.

Then they went to deliver the shirt.

They were given a tip from the lady who had forgotten her shirt in the hospital to go to the Frilly Skirt, which was a dress shop.

The three genin had been assaulted by several women the moment they stepped inside and the team's two boys had been forced - though Sasuke seemed to enjoy it for some reason - into dresses from frilly to sleek. The normally orange clad boy had been forced into a sea blue and puffy dress, that made him blush. Naruto didn't want to admit it but Sasuke kinda looked like a cute girl in the dark red dress with a dragon tuning around on it. Sakura had been forced into a revealing green dress which made her look even more stunning than she already did, something Naruto had thought impossible and had made it impossible for Naruto to tear his eyes from her. Sasuke had been too busy trying to buy the red dress he had been shoved into from the women to even notice Sakura's awesome appearance.

What kind of test was it supposed to be!?

The women had given them a giant hairpin for them to deliver and they left the freaky place after Sasuke bought the dress that Sakura and the dark haired boy had been put in. Sakura had looked at Sasuke strangely before her nerves had enough - Naruto felt the air around her snap with emotions - and she had slapped the dark haired boy in irritation. Sakura had stepped back in surprise as she gaped at sasuke, apologizing furiously and Sasuke had looked at her as he held up the fancy bag containing the red dress as he gave her the other. "You have to admit I looked good in it."

Then they had to deliver another item after the hair pin. This pattern was continued - forever and to eternity -until they were finally told that Kakashi-sensei's teacher watched over them everyday. Sakura had spent a short time finding out that Kakashi's teacher had been a hokage, and then they just had to research the Hokage's.

They found a book about the Hokage and Kakashi was mentioned in it as the student of the fourth. Kakashi was also 26 according to Sakura and Sasuke who did some quick math.

Naruto couldn't believe a word of it, the man had grey hair, so he had to be fifty or something.

Naruto was so done with the man's antics, his admittedly thin patience was drawing even thinner and if this stupid and boring test didn't end soon then he might just go on a pranking rampage and make everyone's lives miserable, because then Kakashi would automatically be included. The innocent victims be damned.

But they had finally found out that his teacher was the fourth and his teacher was Jiraiya of the sanin which was common knowledge, or Sasuke and Sakura-chan said. And his teacher was jiji.

So Sakura suggested that they'd try the Hokage monument because there was no way Kakashi-sensei would be able to get Jiji in on the test. He was a busy man.

Sasuke grunted from where he was standing on jiji's nose with his chakra, as he searched the stone statue's nose for the _something_ that they needed. "Why don't you try and make some clones to search for it?" He asked and crawled down under the nostrils, peeking in as Naruto made a few clones which appeared in their respective puffs of smoke. "Found it! No need for copies now!" He cheered with excitement and pulled out a small black box with red lining.

"What's in it!?" Naruto asked loudly when his dark haired teammate jumped up to them. Sasuke opened the box carefully and peered into it. _Finally! It's over!_

"Oh my God." Sasuke suddenly said, his aura turning both embarrassed and angry after a small period of painful silence, using one of his strange words as he quickly shut the box and tucked it under his arm. "He's on training ground 7, and our goal is to retrieve the two bells he had on him. He also gave us a picture of a naked lady if you're interested." He said shortly, his aura turning to a nasty shade of disgusting spirals, Naruto scrunched his nose in disgust at the familiar feeling and he instinctively knew that the boy was hiding something from them. Sasuke turned away from them as he looked out over the village. "We have to fight, so I say we make some strategy."

Naruto's anger spiked at his teammates lies. Withholding information was as bad as lying to Naruto because it could hurt just as much. If not more in some instances.

"What aren't you telling us!?" Naruto growled, stepping forwards as as he grabbed Sasuke by his collar and shoved the boy back. The nasty part of Naruto's mind took pleasure in how his teammates face morphed into surprise as he yelped. Naruto used his teammates surprise and gapped the front of Sasuke's jacket, holding him close as he glared at him, his blue eyes burning. "What Are you hiding!?"

Sasuke looked taken aback but his surprise quickly turned into annoyance and a small bit of regret. "Let me go." He hissed as his eyes flashed in irritation.

"Naruto!" Sakura screeched, her own temper at a high point from all the wild goose chases Kakashi had sent them on. "What are you doing!?"

"This bastard is keeping something from us!" Naruto snarled, holding the boy as one of the clones he made previously ripped the box from Sasuke.

"Why would Sasuke-kun hide anything from us!?" She shouted in frustration as she punched one of his clones, but calmed down considerably after the brief act of violence.

"That's I'm trying to figure out." Naruto said, surprising himself at the calm response as Sasuke tried to stomp on Naruto's foot when a clone went over and held a hand to his mouth.

The clone with the box opened it and pulled out a picture. The copy looked at it before his face became bright red and he dropped the box and picture in surprise. "Pervert!" It screeched and stomped on the picture.

Naruto frowned. "What was it!?" He demand loudly.

"It doesn't matter!"

"Wait, there really was a picture of a naked person in it?"

"Yes!" The clone exclaimed.

"Was there other things in the box?" Sakura sighed as she sat down on the rocky ground. "Other than the picture."

"Yes! A note!" The clone shouted as it scrambled down to get the box, the clone held up the white note with a cheer.

Naruto fell forwards in surprise when the struggling boy disappeared from his hold and his clone, holding the note jumped in fright when Sasuke appeared in front of it with a poof of smoke. The Uchiha kicked the blonde clone in his face, making it pop and Sasuke caught the note in swift movement as he happily announced. "I'll be taking that."

"Sasuke! What are you doing!?" Naruto growled, taking a step forward as Sakura looked confused between them.

"Reading for you." Sasuke told them as he sat down besides Sakura-chan and looked at the now wrinkled note.

"Alright." Naruto said expectantly as he sat down opposite of the boy when he felt the genuine feelings of the other boy.

"The last mission objective is the two bells I have in my possession, you are to come to my location, which is training ground 7 and come rescue the bells from me," Sasuke red and closed his eyes briefly before continuing. "But there's a catch, only the first of you to get a bell or the bells can pass, but you have to get them both. Someone else can get the second one too for the victor to pass. The one who passes will become my personal student while the last will be sent back to the academy. Taking them with a clone doesn't count either."

"What!?" Naruto and Sakura screamed at the same time.

"He can't do that!" Sakura growled as Sasuke began reading the last part.

"Don't think I can't do it, there a reason I needed you to know that my sensei was the fourth. I have the connections necessary to do almost anything.

Just food for thought.

-Hatake Kakashi. ' '-(^\ )-. He even drew a little face of himself making a peace sign, how cute." Sasuke finished sarcastically and pocketed the note with a sigh, the boy glanced at Naruto briefly with narrowed eyes before averting them.

 _What!?_ Naruto thought desperately as he froze. _Only one of us can pas!? I have to pass!_ He thought determinately as he glanced over at Sakura who was staring at the ground, tears swelling up in her eyes and Sasuke who was focusing on Naruto again, his dark eyes burning into his. Naruto swallowed, making his decision in Ina split second and leaped away, heading for the training ground.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted behind him as he ignored her in favour of running away.

 _I have to pass! If I don't...!_

 _Then I'll never be Hokage!_ Naruto closed his eyes briefly as he jumped of a tree branch. _I'm sorry!_

* * *

 **Extra scene: How to bring your Mister Shadow home undetected. Part 1: Failure.**

"This way..." Sasuke muttered as he peeked down the road before looking up above him where mister Shadow was peeking his own head out to look down the abandoned path.

" **Someone's coming our fucking way.** " He growled, moving back so that he wouldn't be seen when Anko came sauntering down the street, picking her teeth with a kunai.

That had to be bad for her poor teeth.

"Yoo hoo! Sasuke!" She shouted with a wave when she spotted him hiding behind the wall.

Sasuke closed his eyes, taking a quick row of deep breaths before opening his eyes with the Sharingan active for a brief moment, placing a multi layered genjutsu over the area. "Heya Anko-san!" He greeted with fake enthusiasm as he waved back at her. "What are you doing here today?"

"I was thinking of stopping by and get some dinner." She said with a wink, stopping by Sasuke as she leaned against the white wall from and older Uchiha house. She leaned her face over to Sasuke's, staring him in the eye.

"I'm not a restaurant..." Sasuke said dryly, leaning away from the purple haired woman. _Maybe I should just quit as a shinobi and open one..._

"Hmm, who's this?" Anko grinned as she placed her hands in a seal, disrupting the first genjutsu and mister Shadow became visible. Sasuke had put several genjutsu's on the shadowy man so that he looked like a normal boy. He looked to be a bit higher than Sasuke and had dark brown hair, blue grey eyes which was partly shadowed by his long bangs.

"That's Haru, he's my frie-" Sasuke blurted out, hoping that she didn't notice the other genjutsu.

"-boyfriend." Mister Shadow interrupted with a smirk as he glanced over to Sasuke who groaned in annoyance.

"Oh," Anko said, not noticing the genjutsu in her excitement, as she matched mister Shadows grin and slugged an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. She held a hand out to Mister Shadow- or Haru. "Nice to meet you, I can guess who hogs all the good food now."

Haru smirked, taking her hand as they greeted. "It's nice to meet you as well miss Marashi. I've heard a lot of things about you," he paused, glancing over to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun is treating me to dinner tonight."

Sasuke looked at him as he blinked before narrowing his eyes. _Why so polite all of a sudden?_

"Say," Anko said as she released Sasuke again, swinging her hips as she stood away from them. "What do you say about me joining your little dinner plans?"

"No-"

"Sure why not?" 'Haru' said as he slipped his own arm around Sasuke's shoulders and Sasuke gritted his teeth in irritation. "The more the merrier."

Sasuke glared at Haru 'I hate you.' His eyes said when Haru began dragging Sasuke along the street by his shoulders.

'And I enjoy your suffering.' Mister Shadows eyes returned with mischief when Anko caught up to them.

The only thing Sasuke could do as Haru dragged him along the dusty path was to scream inside his head.

 _NOOOOOooooo!_

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Get the stupid bells!**

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I had to redraw thi- rewrite (lol, I'm so not deleting that mistake) this chapter so many times so that Sasuke didn't seem too antagonistic. Ugh, I'm kinda bad at portraying conflicts, it might be because I hate them so much.**

 **No replies this time because this author has gotten sick and the authors brain exploded on a wall - Yay.**

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **-Kenjo C**


	9. Chapter: 9 Get the stupid bells!

_I do not own Naruto. If I did then, I would probably be older..._

* * *

 **Chapter: 9 Get the stupid bells!**

* * *

Naruto was running and it was amazing how much it hurt, running away from his team like this. It was like Kakashi-sensei had them do all those errands and puzzles just to make them close so that the sadistic bastard could tear them apart like that.

He jumped onto a branch that was standing in his way, landing horizontal as he put chakra into his feet. The blonde boy jumped up on the branch in a swing before leaping of it, making it blow back from the force.

He felt like an even bigger betrayer now, using a technique Sasuke had taught him to betray his team.

Naruto stopped on a particularly thick branch, his shoulders dropping as he swallowed thickly.

"Gah!" Naruto gasped when something big suddenly rammed into him, making him fall to the ground with a thud as a growling sound came from above him. He felt a foot press down on his back as a hand pressed down on his shoulder and another rough hand smashed his face into the hard bark of the branch.

"I can't believe you did that!" Sakura's voice screeched at him from his right, betrayal thick in it and naruto felt wetness gathering in his closed eyes as he clenched his jaw.

"I'm sorry!"

"That's not going to cut it you midget!" She screeched back.

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice said from above him. So Sasuke was the one holding him down, but how? Naruto knew that he was stronger than the dark haired boy, so why couldn't he move? "You can probably guess what his reason was."

"I'm sorry." He repeated and Sasuke chuckled slightly as he pressed what felt like a foot harder into his back.

"The only one who really needs a bell is you Naruto." The Uchiha hissed at him, his breath tickling Naruto's neck. "Sakura can get into the hospital, her chakra control is way better than mine so we'll be fine." Sasuke paused before continuing. "But you'll never get even one bell alone, Kakashi's a Jonin. Did you really think that you can beat beat him alone? We can't even beat him together, but we might be able to get the bells."

"I'm sorry." Naruto repeated again, feeling it more. "I didn't think."

He felt the the hand on his head loosen up and he turned his face from the bark to face Sakura who was quietly wiping away some small tears from her cheeks as she massaged her red eyes. "It- it's fine." She gulped and a strange smile found its way to her lips. "I can't believe that I'm crying over Naruto." She breathed as tears began flowing freely from her eyes again.

"We better make a plan." Sasuke told them as he stepped of the blond. "We need to surprise him somehow." Sasuke continued as Naruto carefully sat up, his body feeling heavy and bend his back backwards, hoping to get the odd stiffness Sasuke had created to go away.

"I have a plan." Sakura stated ferociously after a moment of silence.

"That was quick." Sasuke appraised as he raised an eyebrow.

"You did name me the brain of our team." She replied smoothly as she blushed. "I'm a fast thinker. Besides, it's only part of a plan."

"This plan requires Naruto to be on his best game." She said, looking over to naruto as she giggled slightly. "So Sasuke needs to release Naruto's back again, it won't work when he can't walk.

"What!?" Naruto screamed in surprise as he tried to jump to his feet but his legs gave out under him, making him fall down on his butt. "That's why it won't move!?"

Sasuke chuckled nastily. "I couldn't have you run of now, could I?"

"You bastard!" Naruto exclaimed. "That wasn't necessary!"

"Stop arguing! Sasuke heal Naruto. Naruto shut up!" Sakura commanded as she hit the two boys over their heads. "Now my plan is..."

* * *

Kakashi frowned knowingly when he saw the blonde genin shout at his darker haired teammate.

 _So predictable. Well it was fun while it lasted, too bad they did the same as everyone else..._ Kakashi grimaced slightly as he jumped away from his hiding place on the fourth's head and body flickered over to the training ground. He sighed, crouching down on middle pole as he waited for one of the genin to come over and challenge him for the bells.

Kakashi had spent the day amusing himself with the long and twisted rows of tasks that he set up for the three genin. It hadn't taken all that long, all things considered, to set up the tasks. He had spend the few hours he was late for the meeting at training ground 7 to work out the kinks on his long and complicated plan. But then again he wasn't a genius for nothing, so it had been a cakewalk to put everything up.

A small rustling to his right drew his attention and he sharpened his ears slightly with his chakra, listening to the small heartbeat.

A rabbit.

His favourite part of the series of tasks to set up, had been the Frilly Skirt and the purring kitten. Both places had been eager to mess with some cute and small genin, and Kakashi had enjoyed watching the cute children have the experience of their lives.

Kakashi had been a bit sad when Sakura had venomously refused to enter the Purring kitten. Poor girl was probably traumatized just from watching the fancy dressed girl's walk around, collecting unknowing men from from the street.

Naruto had just been confused, and his Innocence was very surprising considering that the invented the sexy jutsu, and the harem jutsu.

Who knew that the small boy really wasn't a pervert.

The Uchiha of the team had just walked right in, waving the item around as he announced his purpose for being in the establishment. He had gone right up to the desk as he made small talk with the women who wanted to mess with him, and gone right back out after getting the next items. Not even batting an eye.

How boring.

The Frilly Skirt event had been to most amusing and and the strangest of the two. It had been strange to watch how the dark haired boy had seemingly enjoyed being forced into a dress. And then the boy had _bought_ the dress. Kakashi might have spit out his lovely and spicy drink in surprise when the boy announced his desire to buy the dark red dress.

Sakura and Naruto's reactions had been amusing but not overly strange. Naruto had been both enraged and embarrassed, Sakura had been embarrassed and slightly surprised. Sasuke brought the dress for Sakura, who seemed pretty happy for the gift.

He had learned a lot about the team, and Kakashi had to admit that he kinda wanted the three to pass. But that was impossible, there were no way anyone of them would give up on their shinobi carer for each other. Sakura might, but it was still a small chance.

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He needed to cut it, it was getting too long. How it still stood up into the air was a mystery to him

Maybe he was too harsh. First he had made a massive amount of smaller missions for them to solve, so that they would become twitchy and impatient. It was test of their patients. The puzzles wasn't the true mind games, no, it was the whole test that was designed to bring them down. Ibiki would be proud, even if he didn't go all out, they were genin after all. No need to totally destroy their spirits.

A faint rustling caught his attention and the blonde genin of team 7 appeared in front of him, standing with his arms crossed as he shouted for the whole world to hear. "I'm getting those bells!"

Kakashi did a double take, not really believing what was happening across of him. "You're... a little off." He drawled easily when the boy made ten shadow clones as he shouted the jutsus name.

 _Who would attack a superior opponent head on? Unless he doesn't realise what he's doing._

"The only thing that's off is your haircut!" The boy shouted back and charged in with his clones to attack.

 _That's it you brat, no one insults my hair and gets out in one piece!_

* * *

 _Don't think about the strategy at first, just fight him, make it seem like we're still trying to catch up to you_. Sakura's voice said as it ran through Naruto's head like one of the narrators of those movies he liked. Naruto still didn't know what she meant by it but it kinda sounded like an insult.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto smirked as he created a few clones, he made sure to transform some of them into pebbles on the ground and have some of them be in the forest besides him.

"You're... a little off." The silver haired man said lazily as he stood perfectly string and relaxed at the same time. Not bothered by the clones.

"The only thing that's off is your haircut!" Naruto snarled and signaled briefly for the clones to attack together with him. Naruto skipped to a stop, cold sweat running down his back when something flashed through that man's lazy air.

He watched as his clones got destroyed by quick and precise hits to their stomach if they had jumped up to kick him, to their head if they went after the man's side, one even got a foot planted into his shoulder before bursting into unstable chakra.

The blonde boy gulped slowly as he pulled out four kunai, his hands shaking slightly as the Jounin took out the fourth clone.

 _He's a Jonin! Don't hold back, there's no way any of us could kill him, we might hurt him. But that's easy to fix, so don't hold back. No matter how dangerous it looks._ Sasuke's voice barked at him as he recalled what the boy had said earlier when Sakura had been worried about hurting Kakashi-sensei. _There's a reason why genin and Jonin rank is so far apart._

Naruto threw the three kunai at the man, aiming for Kakashi's head, liver, the ground besides the man and the back of one of his own clones. The man pulled one of Naruto's clones in front of him when the two kunai aimed at him came within hitting distance, making them hit the clones. Naruto quickly dispelled the shadow clone he had aimed for, watching in satisfaction as the kunai went through the cloud of chakra and into the man's forearm, spraying some red blood out at his clones.

Only for the man to burst into chakra smoke, revealing a neatly chopped log in his place and one of the clones kicked another one in confusion, making it burst into a cloud.

"Damit!" Naruto howled in frustration as he stomped on a small but spread out plant.

"Well would you look at that," Kakashi-sensei's voice said from behind him and naruto froze. "You actually tried to kill me." Naruto felt his hair stick to his neck when the feeling of fear washed over him, it felt like Sakura's emotions. "konoha secret taijutsu technique a thousand years of pain!"

"Naruto! Watch out!" Sakura's sudden but also expected, panicked scream made him glance behind him as he saw the grey haired teacher surge towards him, his hands held in the tiger seal.

Naruto's mind blanked for a second and the next thing he realised was that he was shooting into the air, his behind hurting like hell. It was like someone had stuffed an explosive seal up into him and then let it off, while it was... He shuddered just thinking about it was making him dizzy. Naruto screamed when his mind finally caught up to what had just happened and tears leaked from his eyes, clearing up his sight just before he would fall into a deep lake Naruto hadn't seen before. Quickly pulling a steady flow of chakra into his feet and hands, Naruto landed awkwardly - gracefully dammit - on all fours - or threes because one of his hands lost its grip on the water slightly.

"Well your not so useless after all." The man drawled from where he was standing on the shore, a strange orange book in his hands. The man's eye slipped off Naruto and his head turned, following the course of his eyes, until he settled on a thick plant. Naruto followed his eye over to where Sakura-chan was crouching behind a bush as he began rising to his feet. her pose was ready and alert as she hid herself. She tensed when the man's lone eyes eyebrow rose a bit in a silent question. "I take it Sasuke's not coming?" The man continued, his eyes leaving the girl's hiding place as it moved over to naruto again.

Why would the man assume that Sasuke wouldn't come to get a bell?

"Who cares about that bastard!" Naruto growled, thinking quickly as he hid his confusion. Naruto created a load of shadow clones spread out over the lake and some of the shore, filling the area in a heavy cloud of white smoke. Naruto used the replacement jutsu to replace himself with one of the clones he made at the start of the fight, while he was still covered in smoke.

"Hey," Naruto greeted his pink haired teammate who was watching the cringe worthy scene of his clones getting decimated by their new sensei as he crawled over to her. "So what now?"

"Don't tell me you already forgot!?" She whispered in a growl, her head snapping towards him. "You need to m-" She stopped when a leaf flew between them, making a small loop, before getting followed by two more leaves and their ears were assaulted by the sound of multiple shadow clones popping at once. Sakura dared to glance up, moving a branch and Naruto felt the goosebumps on his arms Sakura's sudden fright washed over him.

"So he's not here..." Kakashi said as Naruto heard the man's feet touch the ground as he walked away from the clearing and then. "Come try again when you're ready." The man announced and his footsteps disappeared.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as he released the branch and turned to him. "What the hell are you doing!?" She snarled at him. "We had a plan! A plan that would actually work if you had remembered to actually follow it, instead of just spamming clones!"

"I just got excited..." he muttered back, vincing at the lashings her violent emotions was giving him.

She took a deep breath, "I'm also sorry, I came too late and our plan collapsed in on itself."

Naruto grinned. "Let's go do it the right way!"

Sakura smiled thinly, but agreed ethustiasticly. "Yeah!"

* * *

"Hey! Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted right into her ear to get said man's attention and Sakura winced, massaging her poor abused ear.

 _ **Why does he have to be so loud! Cha!**_ Her subconsciousness, or inner shouted in her mind, ringing out at an equally loud voice.

"Come to try again? And with sakura no less." The man drawled as he glanced slyly up from his book - which had a big fat 'only 18 and up' warning painted on it, dismissing them completely. "Not that it'll matter."

 _Who does this perv think he is!?_ Sakura screeched in her mind as her outside body's eyes twitched in irritation. _Who has the guts to send his underage team to a 'fun house' Anyway!?_

 _ **And poor Sasuke-kun! We just let him walk in there all alone!**_

 _We did!_ Sakura realised in horror before calming her mind as Naruto created a bucket full of clones. Sakura couldn't help but use a few moments to just stare at she sheer scale of the white cloud, the blonde had to have made around a hundred or more clones. Naruto nodded in her direction when she glanced over at him as the both of them made a few hand seals. A few - a lot of - puffs of smoke joined the cloud as Sakura finished her last hand seal and applied her genjutsu.

"Charge!" Naruto screamed as his clones and him sprung out of the cloud. Sakura stepped back, trying to catch her breath, there where more than she had anticipated.

 _ **Cha! Overkill much!?**_ Inner exclaimed when the cloud of smoke disappeared, revealing the mass of Naruto's surrounding the older - perverted - man.

The man shook his head slightly. "Is the shadow clone jutsu the only thing you can do?" Kakashi said, observing the outraged clones who was closing in on the man. He jumped slightly when the first clone neared him and kicked it in the face, making it pop. He did a little spin, using the back of another clone to plant his sandal into some other copies.

Spotting her objective, Sakura let her imagination flow, making the illusionary grass bend down when a non solid foot landed on them. The normal clone went in for the attack with a battle cry and Kakashi-sensei tried to grab it so that he could use it as a push off. Sakura watched in satisfaction when her plan worked and the Jounin got caught of guard, his body rapidly approaching the ground as several shadow clones grabbed onto him, reaching for the bells.

Kakashi flipped around - spun around would be a more accurate description of his odd rotating - somehow managing to destroy most of the clones around him in a series of movements far too fast for Sakura to follow. _**He broke some of their necks...**_ Inner said as Sakura's other part bearly followed the man's movement.

Plan A had failed.

Miserably.

 _ **He's a Jounin, our plan might not work, but we don't have all that much time left so we might have to improvise.**_ Inner said in Sasuke's voice, making Sakura's brain spark in a burst of creativeness. _**Oh that's clever.**_ Inner complimented as the edge of her lips curved into a wide smirk. _**Serves the pervert for sending us on those tasks.**_

Sakura released the genjutsu for hiding the normal clones and sighed when the strain of the chakra let up and she felt her muscles relax a bit more. Latching her chakra onto one of Naruto's clones, she switched with it by using the substitution jutsu. "What!?" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed in surprise, turning his head to look at her when she appeared in his blind spot with a puff of smoke.

 _I can change places with Naruto's clones. I'm sorry Naruto but you can't do that._ Sasuke-kun's voice said in her mind as she quickly gathered up chakra in her limbs and punched the man, smirking in satisfaction when she felt her fist connect. _It's basically teleportation. One of my cousins did this with the body Flicker, it's kind of the same premise. I'm going to use it to..._

The silver haired man disappeared in a puff of smoke as he was forced forwards by the hit revealing an un-damaged Naruto clone. _Did I hit him?_ Sakura thought in frustration, taking a few gulps of air to steady out her breathing as the clone he had swapped with looked around in confusion. The clone stopped looking around and Sakura followed its gaze to where Kakashi-sensei was fighting a mass of blonde copies. The man was moving a bit more stiffly when he moved to attack the next batch of clones, Sakura had actually hit him before he managed to substitute himself. _That's why the clone_ _is still intact..._ Sakura realised with a loud scream - feminine cheer - of accomplishment.

"Did you hit him!?" One of Naruto's clones shouted in her ear and several others, who was waiting for openings, turned to her.

"I think I did." Sakura told them and preened under their amazed expressions. "Go for his blind spot," She told them, "You might be able to hit him where I did."

"What's a blind spot?" One of the clones asked dumbly, tilting it's head and Sakura found her eyes twitching in irritation. The clone paled as if it could read her anger like an open pop out book and Sakura found her expression softening slightly.

"I'll tell you later. Just go for his left side." She explained shortly and the clone put his hands into the cross seal, creating more clones who quickly began to tell the others about the new discovery. _So this is the original idiotic blonde._ Sakura thought as she watched him make a few more before turning to her.

"Can you do it again?" He grinned in a whisper. "Then we can get the bells before the bastard gets here. My clones already hit him once, because of your amazing attack!" He threw a hand out in front of him in a fake punch.

"I can only do it one time and then I'm out." Sakura told him as she watched for any openings in Kakashi's form, there wasn't any.

"What do you mean?" He asked in confusion and Sakura rolled her eyes at him as she crossed her arms.

"I don't have enough chakra."

"Oh," he replied, tilting his head again as he shut his eyes. "Why?"

 _Deep breaths Sakura, deep breaths. It wouldn't do to waste your chakra on him._ "Because not everyone has crazy reserves like you." She said shortly and substituted herself with one of Naruto's clones that had gotten close to the man's left side. Pulling all the chakra she could spare into her fist, Sakura directed her attack to the man's shoulder in hopes of hitting him and maybe even dislocating it.

A gloved hand appeared in her vision and wrapped itself around the wrist, holding her in place as a burst of chakra leaped like a hungry shark from the man, destroying all the clones near him in one swoop as he held the now exhausted girl up by her arm. The chakra in her hand burst from her hand in a green light when she couldn't hold the chakra back. An unpleasant feeling creeped its way up her neck as her heart began beating rapidly in her chest. "I pride myself in not falling for the same trick twice." Kakashi told her as lifted her a bit higher.

"Let go of Sakura-chan!" Naruto's high voice screamed from behind her as she stared into the man's grey eye, refusing to show any weakness in the presence of the bloody wolf.

The man made a seal that allowed him to concentrate his chakra easier. "Let's knock you out." He drawled, a strange glint in his dark eyes as he moved his other hand towards her head. Sakura used her other hand to grab onto his arm with some chakra enchanting her muscles, hoping to be able to stop his hand. She knew it wasn't going to work, but maybe Naruto would be able to get to her before whatever Kakashi had planed happened. His hand suddenly stopped and he narrowed his eye at her, contemplating something hidden inside his own thoughts. He reacted his hand again and she released his arm, happy that she didn't need to keep focusing her chakra.

"How surprising." He drawled as he let go of her arm and he spun around when a flash of red sprung across her exhausted vision. Sakura fell down to the ground in a heap, too exhausted to brace for impact, getting dirt in her face and hair. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Sakura moved her face out of the soil when a grunt which sounded suspiciously like Sasuke came from above her. She blew a breath of air up to her eyes, blowing her hair out of her face and peeked open her left eye - the one not lying in the dirt and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the red boot of her dark haired teammate.

 _ **Go get that perv!**_ Inner screeched as Sasuke stood above her, glaring at the grey haired man.

"Sakura," he said, glancing at her with his red eyes as he crouched down in front of her. One of his hands sneaked its way to her stomach, right over her chakra core and the unpleasant feeling running through her system lessened a bit. "How does your chakra exhaustion feel?"

She opened her mouth to reply but Kakashi interrupted her. "Come to get a bell?" He said pleasantly, reading in his stupid 18 plus book again.

"You bet," Sasuke told the teacher as he stood up, moving away from her after patting her gently on her shoulder with a quiet. "You'll be alright."

She nodded and began getting up to her feet, which was honestly easier than she had expected, but that just showed her how good a medic Sasuke-kun was. She limped slightly as she walked over to her other teammate who was tied to a three, one of his hands tied up over his head and the other behind the three, preventing him from making hand seals. _When did he have the time to tie Naruto up?_ Sakura thought in dread, they really didn't stand a chance. She looked over to where Sasuke was standing still, not doing anything, he was just standing there watching their sensei who was reading in his book. But Sakura had the suspicion that the man was watching them, not just Sasuke, but Naruto and herself too.

She turned back to the blonde boy who was tugging at his restraints in frustration, his face red in anger. She felt her muscles become heavier when she moved over to her tied up teammate. _**Someone's into B &D...**_ Inner said in Sasuke-kuns dreamy voice making Sakura shudder slightly.

Naruto growled animalistically as he glared out at the two other males on their team. "How did you get caught?" Sakura asked, finally voicing her confusion.

"Bastard had a stupid clone prepared!" Naruto told her angrily. "He cheated!"

 _Talk about being thoughtless... you use clones too..._ Sakura thought dryly as she sweat dropped.

"I'll get you out," Sakura promised as she walked up to the tree, using it as a crutch when her legs became jelly like. "Just be quiet." She continued when he opened his mouth to shout again.

"So any chance you'll just toss me the bells?" Sasuke said as Sakura looked around the trunk of the tree and growled in frustration when she saw the knot, it was tied up, just beyond her reach and the man had also taken the time to melt the ends together.

She couldn't get Naruto free. It was bad enough that she was moving but she might go into a chaotic state if she used anymore chakra.

"You don't seem like the naive type," Kakashi-sensei said. "So you probably already know the answer."

"Heh. A girl have to try." Sasuke replied cheerfully as Sakura slumped down by Naruto's leg, leaning up against the tree.

"I can't get you out." She said to her blonde teammate when he opened his mouth, knowing that Sasuke would hear her. She looked over at Sasuke who had his right hand in the pouch on his back when Naruto screamed in bitter failure.

"Please stop being so loud Naruto," Sasuke said, still looking away from them as he made a few symbols with his hand. "You'll blow our ears out. Why don't you just sit back and let me handle this."

There.

It was their code for continuing with the rushed plan they had made, and Naruto quieted his screams of anger down to a rumbling.

"So you're working together?" Kakashi asked, bringing his gaze up from his book.

Sakura could feel Sasuke's smirk as he swiftly threw five metal objects at the teacher. "Like I'd work with that loser." Sasuke moved from the spot he was standing when Kakashi grabbed each of the thrown weapons with his free hand, revealing them to be knives.

"Knives..." he muttered as he inspected the neatly decorated knives, before throwing them back at Sasuke. "That's pretty uncommon. But luckily - or unluckily, I know how to use them."

Sasuke used the time Kakashi spent on appraising his knives to run in and engage the older man in a taijutsu fight. Sasuke kicked and punched at the man, only to have him either block or dodge without even breaking a sweat. The twos fighting began to speed up until Sakura's eyes just couldn't follow their forms right. Sasuke suddenly kicked out from the man, making them both visible to Sakura's eye, landing a good distance away from the man who was reading in his book again. "I'll admit that you're impressively fast, but your taijutsu- if it's even possible - is even worse than Naruto's," The man looked up from his book, his eye finding Sasuke as he continued. "I heard you spar regularly with the Hyuuga heir, so why is your taijutsu so awful?"

Sasuke-kun twitched, his hands shaking slightly as he held them together, stopping the shaking as he breathed out. "Because reasons." He replied, not really telling them the reason why his taijutsu was so bad - which was honestly absurd Sasuke was the fourth best taijutsu fighter in their class, there was no way he would be worse than Naruto unless he was holding back.

Sasuke huffed when the man went back to his book and ran his hands though a few hand seals, ending in the tiger seal as he breathed in and blew out a massive fireball at the grey haired man. Sasuke didn't spend any time watching the effects of his jutsu and sprinted forwards, only to stop when the fire disappeared and Kakashi-sensei wasn't anywhere in sight, there wasn't even any sign of a substitution. "Ah..." Sasuke groaned, looking around as he looked around, trying to find the man.

The earth cracked slightly beneath Sasuke who looked down in confusion as a hand sprung from the dry ground. Sasuke jumped in fright like a scared rabbit, screaming something that sounded like 'zomebei!' The hand grasped at the air, searching for Sasuke's foot. "I knew it!" Sasuke screamed as he hugged himself to one of the trees nearby, his face pale - well paler than usually. He used his chakra to stick himself to the tree, shaking his hand out into the air as the gloved hand began rising out of the ground. "This is a zombie story! Mark my words world! This is just the beginning and then it'll be the walking dead all over again! They're gunning for your insides! No one will be safe!"

 _What's a gun?_ Sakura thought in confusion as she stared up at her crush.

 _ **Not any more,**_ Inner reminded her.

 _Sorry bad habits die hard ._ Sakura thought as the hand began to push against the ground.

"You're strange." Kakashi-sensei remarked bluntly as he _slipped_ out of the ground, the dirt crumpling as he stepped out of the hole which closed up after he exited.

Sasuke froze as he silently gaped at the man, his mouth opening and closing rhythmically before his eyes blazed red. "That's why you're wearing your headband like that! You're hiding your zombie eye!"

Kakashi's eye twitched in irritation as he moved his hip a bit, making the bells jingle pleasantly. "Weren't you going to get a bell?"

"Like I'd get close to a Zombie! You just want me to fight you so you can eat me!"

"I don't know what a zomebe is, but I'm not going to eat you. Now com-"

"Like I believe you!" Sasuke spat, interrupting Kakashi as the tree creaked loudly in his grip.

Kakashi sighed in expration. "Come on Sasuke I'm not goi-" Kakashi stopped talking with a pained grunt as his lone eye widened and he twisted his back to see what had disturbed him. Sakura gasped when she saw the handle of a knife in the man, slowly dripping blood from his lover back.

Kakashi turned back so fast that Sakura thought he would accidentally snap his own neck as he blocked a kick from Sasuke who appeared in front of him in a small wisp of smoke. Sasuke kicked out with his other leg, and Kakashi quickly caught Sasuke's leg before throwing the boy away. Except Sasuke didn't get thrown away, his ankles seemed to be glued to Kakashi's hands as the Jounin tried to shake him off.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked as he flung his arms out, hoping that the Uchiha would somehow be released from his grip. Kakashi Looked like a young girl, throwing a temper tratum as he threw around Sasuke, trying to get him off. The man pulled his arms back to throw the genin when another Sasuke jumped onto his back, gluing himself to Kakashi as the one in his hands gripped his legs, almost touching the bells when he suddenly shouted.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared besides Sakura, tied up to the tree. Sakura eagerly looked over to where Kakashi-sensei was and felt her heart plummet when she saw Naruto being held down by Kakashi, who was sitting on the boy's back, holding the trashing boy in place. "I thought you said you weren't working with them?" Kakashi said as he focused on the trapped Sasuke. "You should know better than to use the same trick three times anyway. Did you really think it would work?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he hissed at the teacher. "What do you mean 'three times?'"

"Exactly what it means," he nodded in her direction as Sakura's eyes widened in shame, she had destroyed Sasuke's plan! And now Naruto didn't get to become genin like Sasuke and herself! "Sakura used the same strategy twice."

"What?" Sasuke whispered to her and she glanced down, not wanting to look at either Sasuke or Naruto, suddenly finding the grass very exciting. "I told you that no ticks could be used twice, everything was a one time deal."

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her shoulders shaking as tears began blurring her vision.

"It's okay, probably, maybe, I don't know." Sasuke said, making her look up with hope. "I get it you were fired up, but I'm not the one you should apologise to if you really want to."

Sakura looked over to where Kakashi-sensei was watching them, a strange glint twinkled in his eye and Sakura looked down. Naruto looked devastated and Sakura winced when he looked at her. He wasn't even looking at her with hate or contempt or anger, but a silent and accepting sadness. It made it even worse.

"I'm surprised that you would give up your career like that." Kakashi said as he leaned back like you would on a chair, except that he was sitting on Naruto.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto growled.

"Sasuke of course." He replied cheerfully, looking down in his book, making Sakura frown in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, wiping away her tears as Sasuke growled.

"Oh my," Kakashi said in fake pleasantness, he giggled slightly as he glanced up from his book. "They don't know. you bad boy."

"What is he talking about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as Naruto silently watched, his expression turning murderous when Sasuke looked away from her.

"You bastard!" He spat, struggling under the larger and heavier man. "There was more on the note! Wasn't there?"

"Are you incapable of even making new insults!?" Sasuke returned angrily. "It's always bastard this bastard that! Do you really have that bad a imagination!?"

"What did you say!?"

"I said-"

"Shut up! And stop trying to change the subject!" Sakura snarled, punching Sasuke's leg with all her might. The boy hissed but stayed quiet. "What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, strangely calm.

"Do you still have my letter?" He asked cheerfully and Sakura realised that the bastard was enjoying how they suffered.

"Sasuke has it." She replied and pulled herself up against the tree, she slipped her fingers into his front pocket and took out the note that Kakashi had made and sat down again as she opened it.

She frowned as she looked at the note, her eyes widening briefly as she began to read the part Sasuke never read for them. "Oh and Sasuke? I know about the little hospital promotion waiting for you, so you're not allowed to help them." She swallowed before continuing. "Or I will make sure that you'll never become higher ranked than genin. There's a lot of people who'd like to see you take a civilian life and make loads of Sharingan babies ( maybe they'll even put the BLRW on you ) instead of having you risk your life on a weekly basis too.

Just food for thought." She finished and looked at the letter, willing it to change.

"What the hell? you idiot!" Naruto exclaimed, surprising Sakura - it wasn't everyday she could hear _Naruto_ call someone an idiot. "Sakura-chan and I could have done it on our own and then you would still be able to become a genin!"

"Guys..."

"Like I care," Sasuke sneered. "Besides, I never wanted to be a shinobi so I'll be better off as a civilian."

"Guys..."

"You're lying!" The blonde boy shouted back.

"About what part?" Sasuke challenged.

"How-" Naruto began.

"Guys! Be quiet!" Kakashi shouted, making them shut up as Sakura jumped in surprise. "You pass."

His eye smiled as the three children blinked, suddenly feeling like she missed something Sakura asked. "Come again?"

He stood up, removing himself from Naruto who just lied there in surprise. "You pass," he said, giving them a thumbs up. "You guys are the first to pass."

"Why?" Sakura asked, not really believing that they passed the - completely - unfair test.

"Because everyone else only thought about themselves," He said seriously, "They abandoned their comrades the moment they were told that not everyone of them could pass."

Kakashi paused in his speech before continuing. "They say that those who abandon the mission and break the rules are called trash. But you know what?" He looked at them like he was staring into their souls." Those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash."

Kakashi remained silent and Sakura knew it was so that they could let his message sink in. Sakura agreed, inner agreed and she could see that Naruto agreed from the expression on his face. Sakura had never really met someone she hated so much, with all her burning rage filled heart who could make her admire them by saying a simple line. His test was harsh, but Sakura couldn't help but feel that both she and Naruto became better people from it. Naruto seeing his mistakes when he abandoned them after Sasuke read the last part of the test for them. She didn't know when her own view of the world had shifted, but it had.

She looked over at Sasuke and couldn't help but remember what Naruto had told her this morning after Sasuke had talked to her and practically confessed to her.

"He's a bastard, plain and simple! Always doing things that help himself. He never really gets angry, like he doesn't feel like anything really affects him, he lies and he cheats all the time." Naruto had spat.

She hadn't replied because she just hadn't been able to believe what Naruto had told her about Sasuke-kun back then. It felt like a lifetime ago, even if it had just been around eleven hours.

Naruto had then told her about some good things, but as she sat here watching her dark haired teammate close his eyes with a sigh as he leaned back against the tree trunk, relief clear in his face. She felt that the things she had taken as Naruto's negative assessment of him fit him better than the nice things.

She couldn't help but feel like that Sasuke - even though he had the best intentions - was too much of a control freak as Naruto had put it.

Maybe it was because she never saw his flaws before the boy had slapped her in the face with them. He was only human, like herself and Naruto.

"You all expressed a desire to help each other, even if the odds were stacked against you," Kakashi-sensei announced, pulling her out of her musings as his eye smiled sweetly at them. "Even if one of you has an odd view of how to save help." He added as an afterthought. "This is the end of the test. You all pass. Team 7 begins their official shinobi duties tomorrow."

"I did it!" Naruto shouted, throwing himself into the air, in celebration of his passing.

"Let's go get our stuff." Kakashi-sensei said as he turned to walk away from them, a playful rhythm to his steps.

Sakura stood with some difficulty to follow her new official teacher and turned her head to look at Sasuke whose face was begging her to release him. Sakura smiled warily before turning to her blonde teammate and Sasuke made a whining sound behind her. "Naruto? Can you get Sasuke-kun free?" She asked.

"Let the bastard stay," Naruto said happily after turning around as he stopped following Kakashi-sensei. "But why not?" He said walking around the tree as he took a kunai and sticked himself to the tree with chakra as he climbed up. The boy smacked the kunai into the knot, releasing Sasuke from the bindings.

"Gee thanks," Sasuke drawled as he stood up and brushed some dirt of his pants, letting Sakura have have a good look at his as- "Remember who'd be tied to the tree if I hadn't come."

Naruto scowled, glaring at the boy but the blonde didn't say anything. Preferring to just glare daggers at Sasuke.

Sakura groaned inside, this was going to be a pain.

* * *

"A summoning contact?"

Sasuke nodded vigorously as he picked through the book on different animals, it was strange to see how this world had animals that would probably never even exist back in his old one. Then there were all those species that just didn't exist here.

It was sad that they didn't have all that many lizard species.

"I was thinking of trying to get one." Sasuke said, flipping over a few pages. "I wanted a lizard one but there aren't really any."

"There's the salamander one in rain." Rukia said, flipping through her own book which was illuminated by the orange flames from the odd fireplace Sasuke had gotten build into his house right after she had taken him to see his bank manager for the first time.

Sasuke groaned, slamming his head into the table between them. "Why couldn't _you_ have a contract? That would make _everything_ easier."

"Ah Sasuke, not everyone needs someone to watch their back because they suck at fighting." Rukia said cheerfully and ripped the green animal book from Sasuke's hands.

"How generous of you." Sasuke mumbled, leaning back into his armchair, almost disappearing among the many and colorful pillows in it.

Rukia placed the animal book from Sasuke under the one she had as she walked over and placed them back on the bookcase. "You do know that you don't need one right? That is what your teammates are for, not just working together, but covering each other's weaknesses."

"I know, it's just..." he trailed off, waving his hand as he quietly muttered. " _Talking animals_ , who can become your friends. That's a really big thing." Sasuke pulled his hands apart and blew his fingers out wide in a symbol of the summoning animals greatness.

Rukia raised an amused eyebrow. "It's not all that special, Summoning animals are actually quite common. It's just the higher ranked ones that's rare, like the three sannin's summonings."

"And I'm technically around three years old." Sasuke deadpanned as he threw one of his pillows at her.

"You sure acts like it." She grinned, catching the soft object as she plopped down on her own arm chair - after sitting down on Sasuke's pillow of course.

"Ha, ha, ha," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "But seriously, can you think of any species that would compliment me? I was thinking something defensive..."

"Well yeah, your defensive play sucks, and even if you're quick on your feet, it won't really help you because you'll just tire out," Rukia said, tapping her chin in thought as she ignored Sasuke's outraged cry. "Maybe something along the lines of blucky animals like bulls and elephants. Or an avian, for a quick getaway. I heard some rumours about scrolls getting stolen all around the nations, and we don't really have any free ones in konoha... so I might be a bit difficult to find one that fits you..."

"They're getting stolen? How do you do even do that?" Sasuke asked, tilting his head. "Are someone going around killing the summoners and then stealing the scroll? But why do that? The majority of Summoning animals won't agree to fight with the person who killed their summoner. So the person sell the scrolls? I think they go for like 20 million each on the black-y market." He pondered, hugging one of his - insanely many - pillows.

Rukia shrugged. "Well I don't keep an eye on the black market, so I don't really know, but I assume that that's why."

Sasuke blinked owlishly as he held the green pillow in front of him. "Maybe I should get into the black market, maybe I'll find something interesting."

Rukia snorted, "Yeah and then you'll get executed for treason."

"Sounds like a challenge," Sasuke grinned at her as he winked cheekily. "That I don't want to undertake."

"And here I was worried." Rukia sighed, sweat dropping as she leaned on her hand.

"I'll just keep up with the official trade, the contracts are way more expensive, but that's where being loaded to the bone comes in handy," Sasuke said with a grin as he threw the pillow up into the air, making it spin before catching it again with both of his hands. "How late do you think Kakashi-sensei will be tomorrow?" Sasuke suddenly asked out of the blue.

Rukia twitched violently, "Who knows what goes through that man's thick head."

Sasuke blinked, putting the days chosen pillow on his armrest, before planting an elbow on it as he leaned towards her. "That wasn't what I asked," he told her a mischievous smile gracing his lips. "My spider senses are sensing a story."

"Do you want extra training tomorrow? I remember you whining about how I never taught you how to throw a kunai." She told the boy, grinning as she glanced over to the low table behind the boy, where a few of her kunai lying scattered around its glass surface. One of them had blood on it from Sasuke's daily _'learn how to touch a kunai without bleeding, and when I'm done it's onto shuriken.'_ Training where he simply had to go though a few weapon poses without cutting himself.

Rukia was honestly impressed that Sasuke was able to get cut _every single time_ he tried to handle either a kunai or shuriken, but could throw a knife at pinpoint accuracy and juggle with a few of them _without get cut once_.

The only problem with knives was that they couldn't go all that far, so it wasn't really the most useful skill outside a kitchen.

Sasuke paled, "I'll be a good boy!" He said, bringing a hand up to his forehead. He grinned, knowing that she was kidding. "I'll even try and get a marine outfit just for you."

Rukia raised an eyebrow, imagining the boy wearing the traditional navy blue and white outfit. She imagined him wearing the female version for some strange reason and burst out laughing. "Oh man," she whispered between the uncontrollable laughter. "That's- too much."

Sasuke remained silent, letting Rukia see his displeasure by glaring at her.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: What is a D-rank!?**

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **No extra story this time, the Author (that's me btw.) sometimes forget that the reader (that would be you) are technically two chapter behind myself. So I forgot that I wanted to post this chapter friday, and didn't feel like writing something (I didn't have anything written in advance and it's a drawing day)... sigh.**

 **I have gotten a few people telling me that Naruto was pretty OOC in the last chapter. all I can really say is that I'm sorry, but I'm still pretty new at writing and there will probably be even more in the future. not just Naruto.(I'm not really sorry because this is my story lol, and if I want ooc-ness then I'm doing it. (Not that I'm doing it on purpose but I'm still not all that good a writer. I have improved but there will still be issues))**

 **Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited and followed. (I hit 50k, wow never thought it would happen but I guess the story will end up being 100k+)**

 **Constructive criticism is always appreciated because the author sucks at spelling and grammar lol. (and English is actually easier for me than my first language. it's what happens when you read too much fanfiction...)**

 **-Kenjo C**


	10. Chapter 10: What is a D-rank?

_I do not own Naruto. If I did, then bears would be blue._

* * *

 **Chapter 10: What is a D-rank!?**

* * *

"I can't take this anymore!" Naruto growled like a demon, throwing the paintbrush into the bucket, spilling the white paint over the poor grass and Sakura nodded in agreement, crossing her arms, making sure not to get paint on herself.

"You lazy bums," Sasuke grinned, leaning over the fence to get a better look at them, his own paint brush spilling a bit of paint down on their side and Naruto twitched in irritation. "You just don't want to work for your food."

"You're the one who's loaded," Naruto shouted, pointing at Sasuke with his paint splattered hand. "You don't even have to work for your food."

Sasuke stretched out his arms, making his shoulders go up to his ears as he tilted his head. "You do have a point," Sasuke frowned, closing his eyes before slumping down again. "I should get a bat cave." He breathed, opening one of his dark eyes as he glanced at his two teammates.

"Which one of you want to be Robin?" He asked the two confused Genin.

"Who's Robin?" Sakura asked, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Don't worry it doesn't matter, what does matter is that we'll get a mask," Sasuke moved his brush, making it drip some more paint as he placed it on the fence. The dark haired boy looked up, watching the shining sun before glancing down to his teammates. "So get back to work, we need to be done in like an hour."

They were doing their tenth D-rank since becoming genin, Kakashi-sensei wasn't doing all that much for them training wise. But he did find the most physical and or mentally draining mission - cough chores cough - that he could. Sasuke enjoyed these kinds of missions, but knew that someday they'd have to be sent on a dangerous mission.

So Sasuke would enjoy these quiet times while he could. Living in the now was better for him than stressing over the inevitable future he would have to go through.

Today's first mission was painting miss Makia's fence, separating her garden from the busy Tobirama street, a street populated mostly by civilians which was named after the second hokage.

Sasuke had taken up the task of painting the side facing the street, while Sakura and Naruto did the inside as Kakashi-sensei disappeared to buy them some lunch for when they were finished with the 'artwork'.

Sakura looked up at him, her eyes closing as she groaned in dismay and glanced over at her and Naruto's side of the fence which was only half done. "We won't make it..."

Sasuke smirked, leaning back, looking at the - a bit too pale because the lack of chakra involved in making it - fire clone he had painting his side of the fence with him. The clone looked up at him with the same smirk as it jumped onto a dry part of the fence with chakra, it smirked down at Sasuke's surprised teammates. "You do know that you can use clones, right?" Sasuke asked innocently, tilting his head for good measure.

"Naruto!" Sakura said forcefully, turning to their blonde teammate. "We need ten!" She instructed as she turned back to Sasuke who slipped down from the fence with his clone after picking up his brush, to look at his almost finished side. "Let's get that sneaky hottie."

"Hottie..." Naruto muttered as he created some shadow clones, the smoke from their creation, visible from above the fence.

"You need to be holding the brush! Or we won't have enough for every clone!" Sakura's voice suddenly instructed as Sasuke sniggered when Naruto screamed in frustration and the sound of clones dispersing reached his ears.

Turning his attention back to the fence, Sasuke dipped the brush down into his paint bucket. He moved over to the naked spot, taking several dramatic strides as Naruto created more clones and put the brush above the spot. He tugged it down, creating a thin layer of white paint, before tugging it up again, finishing his side with a flourish.

He stepped back, admiring the perfectly clean and white wooden wall.

Sasuke looked over at his clone which saluted before turning into a small wisp of fire, disappearing into the thin air.

Sasuke stared at the spot his clone had stood previously as he scratched his neck. Feeling his hair between his fingers, Sasuke tugged on a lock and rolled his eyes.

He didn't get how jutsus worked... No matter how much time he spent trying to make sense of them.

Bending was the closest he could think of that resembled jutsu, but even then. There were just too much not explained.

Sasuke groaned, sitting down on the road as he glanced at a few slightly older girls waving at him. He waved back, smiling thinly as he heard a Naruto shout, followed by a loud poof as Sakura screeched, making the bystanders walk a large arch around the fence as they stared at the noises.

"It looks good," Kakashi-sensei complimented as he walked up to Sasuke, peering at the fence from above a giant brown paper bag. "How are the two rowdy ones doing?"

"I thought the rowdy ones where all three of us?" Sasuke smirked as he looked back at the fence where his two teammates had gone quiet, probably to get the job done as quickly as possible. "They're working on it." He said, answering Kakashi's question.

"Maa... you seem to be done already," Kakashi observed as he sat down besides Sasuke. "What happened to the teamwork I always tell you three about?"

Sasuke looked at him before stating in a mechanical voice, copying a dalek. "Pranks before teamwork, that is the most important."

Kakashi blinked. "I have no idea why you just did that with your voice."

"Exterminate!" Sasuke continued in the same voice.

"Right." The silver haired man said dryly as they waited for the two others to be done.

"Exterminate!"

"You can stop now."

"Exterminate!"

Kakashi sighed, lowering his head slightly. "Right..."

"Exterminate!"

* * *

"Why aren't you teaching us anything!? Aren't you supposed to be our teacher!?" Naruto snarled a few days after the D-rank where they needed to paint a fence. They had just finished another D-rank, where they had to walk one elderly villagers old white dog.

They were currently on top of the Hokage monument, at the civilian outlook, which served as a popular place for tourists to watch out over the beautiful village. It was especially popular from around six to way into the night because of the orange sun and closeness to the stars.

"I'm not your teacher," Kakashi-sensei said bluntly as he padded Sakura on the head. "I'm your team leader."

"But you're supposed to teach is so we can become better!" Naruto resorted, throwing his hands up into the air as Sasuke laid down on the ground and put his hand behind his head, looking up at the clouds. "How am I supposed to become Hokage if I don't get stronger!? Teach us some ninjutsu or something!"

Kakashi-sensei sat down on one of the benches overlooking the village and slipped his arms behind he backrest, slouching lazily. "Why do you think that I'm not teaching you anything?"

Naruto frowned, slipping down on the ground as he held his head in thought. Sasuke could almost see Naruto's brain working with the question, not really getting any results, but the gears were clearly turning inside his head.

Sasuke didn't even want to try and find out why Kakashi wouldn't teach them. The man had a way too strange mind and Sasuke didn't even want to try and figure him out.

"We aren't ready." Sakura said quietly from where she was standing behind the bench Kakashi-sensei was sloughing.

Kakashi's head snapped up to her as his single eye widened. "Sakura is correct," He said, turning back to watch the busy streets of Konoha. "Can you explain why?"

Sakura frowned. "I read once that jutsu doesn't make the shinobi, it's the mind and how you use the techniques. Like what we did with the substitution, a jutsu regarded as slightly useless and we used it as an effective tactic of attack."

"And we have a winner," Kakashi said, turning to Naruto. "You're always asking for jutsus and flashy techniques. Do you really think that that will do anything for you? That will never get you anywhere except at the end of someone's sword, choking on your own blood."

Naruto gulped, turning away from the man. "Then teach us something different," Naruto paused as he tied off his headband to look at the swirly leaf engraved into the metal when his hair fell into his eyes. "I don't want to end up on the end of someone's sword, but I don't know what to do to get better."

Kakashi hummed in response as he turned to Sakura again. "What have you done to get better?" He asked her.

The pink haired girl blinked at him and opened her mouth as she glanced briefly at Sasuke. "I've been practicing my chakra control, Sasuke-kun showed me a technique used to walk on vertical surfaces."

"And what about you Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, turning to where he was lying on the dry ground.

Sasuke blanched and his eyes widened as he recalled what he had been doing. "I've been practicing by speed... and my evasion." He said shortly as he cupped his hand to a small scar running along his neck.

He hadn't noticed it in time and when the blood had finally tickled him as it ran down to his collarbone, he couldn't do anything to get rid of the scaring. It had simply been too late.

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know what guys? I'll teach you something," he continued at Naruto's hopeful look. "But, you will have to decide what you want to know."

"-Teach me a fire jutsu!" Naruto demanded hotly in the hopes of getting an awesome move into his arsenal.

"- I can reject you twice, and if you don't find something I'm willing to teach you in for those two... Then there's no deal. But if you hit the bull's eye on both, then you'll get to learn two things," Kakashi continued smoothly as his eye smiled sweetly at the blonde boy. "That's one down for Naruto. You'll have to be more specific too."

"What!?" Naruto gaped. "That's no fair! I didn't know the rules!"

Kakashi looked sternly at Naruto who looked practically murderous. "No one cares if you don't know the rules Naruto. That's life, and life sucks." He told him bluntly as he threw a kunai near Sasuke's head, making him flinch in surprise as he narrowly dodged getting a kunai pierced into his ear.

 _Way to get a piercing..._

" _What the living hell!?_ " Sasuke exclaimed, slipping into english as he jumped from the ground, not really feeling that lying on it was safe anymore.

"Naruto, if I wanted then Sasuke would have been dead right now." Kakashi said boredly, like he hadn't just attacked his student, who would likely have been injured if not for some honed reflexes.

Naruto, who had also jumped to his feet, glanced at the kunai, his jaw clenched as he nodded tensely. Not taking his eyes of the kunai that had a few strands of Sasuke's hair pierced to the ground.

" _Why do you always use me as an example!?_ " Sasuke shrieked, not realising that he was still talking in English and not the strange symbol language of this world. " _What did I do!?_ "

"If you would talk in a coherent language?" Kakashi-sensei asked, raising an eyebrow - not that they would know if he raised the other one too.

Sasuke paused and flushed red when he realized his mistake. "Sorry," he muttered. "I just want to know why it's always me that gets used as an example!"

"Because you have an higher chance of survival. You did evade the kunai, right?" He said, not at all apologetic.

"I don't think that you need to attack Sasuke-kun all the time!" Sakura shouted, coming to his defence as she glared at the man.

"And how would you stop me?" Kakashi asked bluntly as he threw another kunai after Sasuke, this one aimed just in front of his feet. Sakura stepped forwards but hesitated and Kakashi continued. "I could kill one of you and say it was a training accident and no one would believe you."

"But that's wrong!" Naruto growled, stomping on the ground. "Gramps wouldn't let you!"

"Well tough love," Kakashi shrugged. "That's to world you wanted to be in. Congratulations you're officially in the shit pile."

Kakashi stood up before Naruto could open his mouth as he clapped. "We begin tomorrow at the usual time, try to prepare for your requests. You only have two tries." With his last word said, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"He's right," Sakura said after a moment of silence as she placed her hands on the bench, leaning over it. "We need to prepare, find out what we want to learn. Like homework. And we can always teach each other the things we find, then then we don't have to repeat a technique."

"Let's go to the library!" Naruto suggested and Sasuke choked, getting a bit of spit down the wrong pipe. Sakura stared at the boy as Sasuke struggled with breathing because of the spit and Sakura's jaw dropped.

" _You_ want to go to the _library?_ " She asked, her surprise evident in both her face and voice.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, not really understanding her disbelief.

"I never thought the day would come where Naruto would willingly read a book..." She told then with a playful frown.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed when he realised what Sakura had just said.

* * *

"Weapons... weapons..." Naruto hummed to himself as he ran a finger along the spines of several books, worn and new. The team were in the shinobi section of the library as they looked through book trying to find something weapon related. Sakura had suggested that they each picked at least one weapon to present the silver haired man. She theorized that he would be more likely to want to teach them a weapon than a fancy jutsu like Naruto wanted. They were going after weapons and jutsu with many uses so that Kakashi-sensei would be more likely to accept their proposal.

Naruto stopped walking as he held his finger to an old and worn looking book which caught his attention. ' _Weapons from before the age of chakra._ ' The spine said and Naruto slipped it out from the shelf to look at it. The front cover had a strange two sided katana, which seemed very impractical. He looked on its back, reading the inscription. ' _Some weapons that was used before 0 TAOC are still in use today. But several of the many marvellous weapons have gone lost in time. But my friends and I have uncovered, by finding them preserved in the earth, many kinds of interesting weapons._ ' It didn't say who the author was, but it was definitely worth a look.

He walked back to the table team 7 had claimed for their research and sat down in front and a little to the left of Sasuke who was busy reading a book with a giant drawing of a raging fire which filled a whole page.

Naruto opened his own book and began to painstakingly read through the pages. He had secretly hoped that it would be a picture book. Why did books have to involve words?

* * *

Sakura frowned at the book in her hands, she would have to bring it over to the lady at the entrance - who had refused Naruto passage _again_. It was clearly faulty. It was written from the wrong side, the weird symbols that she guessed was the words want from left to right, not down. Sakura place it in her stack of books she found interesting. There was: 'Creative jutsus for curious shinobi,' 'The jutsu revolution,' 'Skills every shinobi should know' and now the useless book she found hidden on top of one of the bookshelves in the summoning section.

She rolled her eyes when Naruto, who was reading a book began to try and rip out his own hair, letting out a silent scream. He was only on page 3.

"This is taking too long!" He wined and Sasuke glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"You've only been reading for like five minutes." He deadpanned.

"What? It feels like days!" Naruto whispered back and Sakura rolled her eyes yet again.

"You can make some clones to look through the two extra books I brought, then we'll finish faster," She suggested with a shrug as she handed the book over to him. "You can also get them to read a small section each."

"What's this?" Sasuke asked, picking up the strange and faulty book as Naruto began making the clones. "Another book?" The boy's pale skin suddenly became even paler, if that was even possible and he opened the book, glancing at the pages.

"Do you know what it's saying?" She asked, Sasuke was an admittedly strange person sometimes and maybe the book was in the strange language he sometimes talked in.

"Yes, but it's useless." He said shortly, and put the book in his white backpack with pictures of cute kittens scattered all over it.

 _ **Then why are you taking it with you!?**_ Inner screeched.

"Okay." Sakura simply said, not bothering to ask and turned to her own book

* * *

Kakashi chuckled as he spied on his cute little genin. They were huddled together as they talked about something involving an old book, a stone, an eye and a whirlpool, which was the only thing he could gather from reading their lips. What a strange combination.

He jumped down from his hiding place in the trees, uncloaking his presence as he greeted them with a quick "Yo."

"Your Late!" All three of them screamed at him and Kakashi smiled in happiness.

"Sorry, got lost on the road road of life." He told them and curved his eye into an arch, giving them the best smile he could portray with both mask and headband covering his face.

"Liar!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed hotly as Sasuke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as they scattered around to stand in front of him.

"So," he said, waiting for them to present their case. "What do you have for me?"

Sasuke stepped up and released one of the straps from his shoulder. He made the girly bag swing around so that he could look at at the content and zipped it open, taking out a book with several different colored markers. He dropped the bag and opened the book at a orange marker. Sasuke looked the contents over before holding the book out to him. "This is a jutsu called the path picker, I thought it would be a great jutsu for all kinds of things."

"Hmm..." Kakashi hummed as he looked the jutsu over and couldn't help but agree. Kakashi had never heard or encountered that jutsu before. But it was insanely useful and could be used in so many different ways, even if the name was very misleading. It shouldn't even have been in the library, it should have been in the Jutsu storage. Not a place where genin could find it. "What kinds of uses for it did you think about?" _Let's see if you can sell it..._

"We- I can use the jutsu to mark a path, so that I can find the right way back, it can also be used to mark a person so that they can can be tracked, it can be used to find a captured teammate, it -" he stopped and looked over to Sakura who frowned with an eye roll and gestured to her feet as she took a few nonexistent steps on the spot. "-It can be thrown?" He asked and Sakura slapped her face and began gesturing around. She made a pair of legs walking on on the air and held out a finger, she put the finger on her other hand when it neared it. "Oh! It can be used to detect people because it can be attracted to humans!"

Kakashi looked at the book again, the boy had missed a few points that the jutsu could be used for. But they sold it pretty well, so he would approve. "Next." He said with a smile. He knew that their plan was to chose what to present by removing those too similar to one he rejected. But it was fun to throw a wrench in their plans and watch how they react. It would normally be Naruto who began shouting, Sasuke who began to act like he didn't care but his body language would give his frustration away and Sakura who would become silent as she began formulating a new plan. ' _The brain on team 7.'_ The two boys had called her before, if Kakashi recalled correctly.

Sakura gulped and bend down to look in Sasuke's backpack, she took out an old book. She gave him the book after she had opened it on a page marked with a red stripe. "A bow," she said as she gave the book to him and he looked down at a painting of an expensive looking bow. "Naruto suggested it to me when I told him that I wanted some long distance ways of attack, especially if enchanted with chakra. The arrow can be faster than any weapon we throw, even if it takes time. But it can be used for many different types of combat like poison, it can also be used as a staff of sorts if the situation require it. It can also be used to transport small messages with hollow arrows, paint or engravings." She stopped and looked at him, her eyes daring him to reject the idea.

He looked at her and smiled, knowing that they could take the gesture both ways. "Next."

Naruto jumped forwards and paused with a blink before rubbing his neck as he turned around to Sasuke who handed him a scroll.

"Sealing," Naruto said as he turned around and gave Kakashi the scroll. "I know it isn't specific!" He interrupted when Kakashi opened his mouth. "But Sakura-chan and the bastard said I should learn it!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes, Sasuke and Sakura probably suggested sealing because of Naruto's name. The Uzumaki clan was famous for its sealing and chakra, so they probably connected the fact that he had a lot of chakra with his last name to realise that he must have had a little bit of Uzumaki in him.

"Next." Kakashi said with a wave of his hand. It was taking too long and he was already twitching just to get on on with it so that he could read his book.

"Alright-to," Sasuke began and gave him a book. It was opened up on a page about some jutsu which made one's senses stronger, not like channeling chakra would, but in a more efficient and effective way. It was a skill Kakashi already knew so it wouldn't be too hard to teach them it.

Sakura suggested learning how to use their chakra natures. A simple but useful skill.

Kakashi hummed as he tapped his chin and looked at his cute little genins hopeful faces. "I'm sorry guys, but all of your suggestions sucked." He said bluntly and the three faces morphed into a murderous look and Naruto's hand twitched to his shuriken holder.

They didn't say anything, opting instead to just stare at him with their small adorable gazes which screamed murder.

"I'm kidding," he said happily, clapping his hands in front of himself. The three looked surprised before rolling their eyes simultaneously. "I like all your suggestions! So let's do them all! Except the last of Sasuke's.

"Really!?" Naruto asked loudly and Kakashi nodded, he might not be a all that proficient in seal, but he was the fourth best living konoha shinobi in the arts of sealing. "Yatta!" Naruto jumped into the air with happiness and Sasuke rolled his eyes and slipped down to sit on the grass.

"Which one do you want to start with Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, her eyes brimming with hope as she clasped her hands together.

Kakashi made two quick shadow clones. "We'll start with your bow, Naruto's seals and Sasuke's tracking jutsu," he said as he walked over to the pink haired girl and the two cloned joined Naruto and Sasuke. "We need to borrow a bow before we can get you one." He told her as he gestured for her to follow him towards the village.

* * *

Sakura took a deep breath as she nocked the arrow and raised the bow, careful not to close one of her eyes again. She closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the feeling of the warm handle which had been warmed by use and drew back the string with her left hand. Sakura kept her eyes locked on the target as she positioned the bow, her muscles straining slightly. She breathed out as she released the arrow, letting her right hand relax as the arrow flew away from her and the bow swung forwards. She moved her hands down and watched in satisfaction when the arrow pierced just below her target.

It was a good development, but she needed to train more.

"That's amazing!" Naruto shouted behind her and arms wrapped around Sakura's torso before she was lifted into the air by her excited teammate. "You're amazing Sakura-chan!"

"Put me down Naruto." She sighed and glanced over at Sasuke who smirked at her as he waved his hand in her direction.

"That's pretty good," Sasuke said, his eyes sparkling as Naruto put her back down on the ground, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Ever tried to hit the red dot?" He asked as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She rolled her eyes when Naruto began pestering the dark haired boy. "See if you can do better!" He snarled punching after Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke slipped quietly under his arm, turning to her.

"It was a good shot, you need a bit more physical power because of your idiotic diet, but you're getting there." He said with a smile and reached his hand out, silently asking for her to give the bow to him.

"Just don't dry fire..." Sakura instructed as she handed over the bow.

"It's been a long time..." Sasuke-kun muttered, pulling lightly on the string, but didn't let it go, much to her pleasure. "Can I have an arrow?" He asked her and Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.

"You can't even use a bow." Naruto said, crossing his arms as Sakura slipped an arrow from her quiver, she had bound around her hips and gave the Uchiha the arrow.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and nocked the arrow with his left hand, holding the bow in his right, just like Sakura before stopping. He held up his hand away from his face as he formed an o with his fingers and brought it to his face. He sighed, using his right hand to nock the arrow, raising his bow and drew back. He stood there for a while as he aimed for the target, and Sakura saw his muscles straining ever so slightly. "I should have asked for some equipment... and if just they had compounds here..." The boy muttered and let go of the arrow, letting it fly. It didn't hit the target, instead hitting a tree to the side but Sasuke seemed to know what he was doing. "This is what happens when one's dominant eye suddenly change..." he muttered and handed her the bow.

"When did you learn to use a bow?" Sakura asked as Sasuke shook his hand, wincing a bit.

"Past life." He replied cryptically and smacked Naruto on the shoulder. "Who couldn't use a bow now?"

"Shut up!" Naruto growled playfully, going along with Sasuke-kun's fake hostility.

 _Boys will be boys..._

"Do you want to use a bow too?" Sakura asked, maybe it could be something they did together.

"Sorry," Sasuke said, probably seeing her hopeful gaze. "But I have other things to focus on. Who's going to patch the two of you up if I suddenly use all my time on bows?"

Sakura laughed. "I guess it's better that I'm the one spending all my time on it then."

"Well, you all did good anyway," Kakashi sensei said as he walked up to them, he was juggling with a plain knife with a black handle. "Sasuke, catch," he said and threw it over to Sakura's dark haired teammate, who caught it in a light grip and turned it around in his hand. "I heard you were one of the best in the village with knives."

"Why does everyone seem to know stuff I didn't tell them about me," Sasuke mumbled and spun around, throwing the knife into the middle of the target Sakura had bought for her practice. Sakura blinked and looked over at Sasuke who glanced over at Kakashi-sensei, his eyes blazing red with the Sharingan activated. "So why the interest?"

"Can you do that without the Sharingan?" Kakashi-sensei asked, not answering the boy's question.

Sasuke shrugged. "Nah."

Kakashi-sensei hummed, tapping his chin in what appeared to be thought. "I think my cute genin is ready for a C-rank."

Naruto made a 'woa' sound and jumped, cheering in succes. Sakura had noticed that the boy always jumped up into the air when he became the excited about something. Sasuke usually just remained silent as his eyes narrowed in thought or he'd just smile in satisfaction. It was fun for Sakura to find all the weird quirks of her teammates, it was something Kakashi-sensei had suggested as a fun challenge.

* * *

"A C-rank?" The third hokage asked, puffing on his pipe as his eyes swept over the three genin standing in front of him. "Do you think that they're ready?" He asked, turning the gaze to one of his most competent Jounin that was currently under his command.

Kakashi nodded, his eyes curving up into an upside down U, the only way Kakashi really could show his happiness. "I believe that they're ready, but only a low ranked mission, nothing too challenging. Like a simple escort mission."

The older hokage let his gaze sweep over the genin again holding a brief pause when he caught Naruto's eye, he let out a small sigh at his hopeful gaze. He stopped his eyes again when he meet the eyes of the pink haired girl and continued on to the dark haired genin who nodded slightly. "I will trust your judgement Kakashi-kun," the Hokage turned his attention to the small scrolls lying on his desk, Hiruzen looked through the one marked with C's until his eyes caught an easy one. The man called Kazuki, no last name, had requested a simple guard to get back home to his small village which laid around two days from Konoha. "Meet here at the mission distribution tomorrow at 8 to meet your client."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Kakashi bowed slightly together with the three children before turning to his team, looking them all deep in the eye. "You all heard hokage-sama, we meet here tomorrow, be prepared for everything. Dismissed."

The genin hurried after their teacher when he left the room and the elderly man caught the gaze of a dark eye before the door closed.

* * *

"Kazuki-sama, a team of genin has accepted your mission. I will alert Senri immediately."

* * *

 **Next Chapter: It's a C-rank what can go wrong?**

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I read a lot of things on archery for this chapter to make the feeling of Sakura using the bow a bit more realistic for those that knows how to use bows. I do - and will - mix in a lot of Naruto things, like making the arrow faster by using chakra and things like that - even if it isn't possible.**

 **Creative freedom. Sakura is also using a recurve bow btw.**

 **I know that a lot a lot of people do the whole 'Naruto learns sealing' thing, but I like those and I feel that Canon naruto should have learned a bit more about seals. He had jiraiya as a teacher for god's sake, it had so much potential. (I don't really care for the whole 'he's an Uzumaki' thing)**

 **-Kenjo C**


	11. Chapter 11: It's a C-rank

_I do not own Naruto. If I did, then maybe this story would be better lol._

* * *

 **Chapter 11: It's a C-rank what can go wrong?**

* * *

It was a hot day in konoha, a burning 'You'll die if you go outside' day. The usually warm, but not overly so leaf village was being terrorised by an unexpected heat wave which promoted all living beings to retreat under the shade of the various buildings and the trees of all sizes which decorated the village with their bright green leaves.

The only ones going outside In the burning heat was the shinobi who had a duty to uphold. Like the genin team called Team 7, they were waiting in the shadow of one of the giant gates leaving the shinobi village. They were waiting for the teacher of the team, Hatake Kakashi who was two hours late for the mission departure.

"Mission...! Mission...! Misssssion...! Miiission...!" Naruto ranted happily, having finally gotten his wish for a C-rank fulfilled. It wasn't exactly the grand mission he had expected (saving princesses, fighting bad guys or helping with overthrowing a corrupt governor.) But it was definitely better than painting a fence. He also got to go outside the village, which was a giant plus on his side.

"He's late again," Sasuke commented dryly as he looked up from the burning orange colored book about Taijutsu he was reading - or studying, as the dark haired boy would say. "I would have thought he'd be on time for something like this." The boy shrugged as he rolled his eyes. Sasuke's amusement at the situation stood out clearly among the annoyed emotions Sakura-chan and the client released.

The client was a middle aged man with a strong and handsome jaw, he looked muscular but not overly so. The man had pitch black hair pulled back into a short ponytail reaching to his shoulders. His hazel brown eyes was narrowed as he stared moodily into the village. His most notable feature was probably the long and wide scar running from his temple to the bottom of his ear. It looked vaguely like a wolf.

"Of course he's late," Sakura snarled, stomping her foot into the ground as she whipped around. Her hair which was now put up into a ponytail slammed into her face, leaving a slightly red mark, making her look more irritated than she already was. "We should sue him for it!"

"At least we got a misssssion," Naruto said, ever the optimist as he dragged out the word 'mission.' "I can take some waiting for this, I already spend so long waiting, a little more time isn't going to hurt."

"I just hope we won't run into any shinobi." Sakura-chan said lowly as she fiddled with the second water bottle she had just unsealed to drink off. She had already used up one bottle while they waited and Naruto wondered how many bottles she had sealed in one of the storage scrolls he had given her after learning how to make them.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! We'll just beat them up if anyone dares to attack our team."

"Besides," The bastard said as he looked up from his book again. "It's a C-rank what can go wrong? And the risk of meeting enemy shinobi is only at two percent."

"It's actually at 25% because some clients decide to withhold information so that they don't have to pay for a B-rank." Sakura replied with a small shiver.

"Really?" Naruto interrupted, getting excited. "I can't wait!"

"You're contradicting yourself." Sasuke remarked as he raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

Naruto sighed with a shrug. "It's a figure of speech, but I didn't expect you to understand it."

"Ha ha," Sasuke replied dryly as he rolled his eyes. "Very clever."

"It's so hot." Sakura breathed as she emptied the water bottle with a sigh.

"I agree, I am hot." Sasuke replied cheerfully as he caught Sakura's empty bottle and sealed it in a scroll.

The pink haired girl turned beat red as the blood in her veins rushed to her face. "Wh-wha-wha?" She stuttered, shielding her beautiful eyes with her hands in embarrassment.

"Sorry I couldn't help myself," Sasuke laughed as he scratched his neck. "I had to do it."

"Your ego is burning with disappointment."Naruto told him with a smirk. "maybe you should splash some water on it, that would cool you down."

"bleh," Sasuke replied with a grin. he frowned when the client began walking up to them, trying to ignore the man. "Waiting sounds so boring, don't you have a card game or something in one of those scrolls of yours?"

Naruto smirked when the old client stopped by them and raised his hand slightly to ask Sasuke something. "No." The blonde said and turned away before Sasuke could reply, trapping the Uchiha with the bored and curious client.

Naruto dragged sakura with him as he began moving away from them when the client began to talk. Sasuke's eyes widened comically as he nodded at whatever question the man asked.

Sakura laughed softly besides Naruto as their dark haired teammate almost creeped into himself in an attempt to get away from the client whom the boy had said was 'creepy.'

Naruto didn't get what was so creepy about the man, he seemed like a fine enough guy, honest, kind and nice company even if he seemed a bit shy.

Sakura moaned besides him, taking another swing at her drink as she began lowering herself to the dry another and dusty ground. She would never had done that a few weeks ago and Naruto felt in awe of her progress. She had moved so far in the little time Kakashi-sensei had trained with them, while Sasuke and Naruto took a step forward, Sakura _jumped_.

She became better at _everything_ at an alarming pace. Her taijutsu skipped ahead with a vengeance when she began ' _fattening up_ ' as Sasuke remarked and all the other shinobi subjects seemed to come just as easily to her.

Naruto needed to pull himself together or Sakura would be the one to become Hokage, or worse _Sasuke_ would become Hokage before he even had the chance to be considered for the position. Naruto shuddered just by thinking about his dark haired friend becoming the Hokage, Konoha would probably burn to the ground in two days flat. Not that Sasuke ever wanted to become Hokage, the boy dodged responsibility like it was the Chakra poisoning and would probably stab himself in his stomach before having to take any kind. He had also said that it would be a thousand times better for the village if Naruto became hokage. Naruto was happy to have Sasuke's _and_ Sakura's support for his becoming hokage.

"Good morning team!" A bored voice said, announcing Kakashi-sensei's presence to them all and Sasuke jumped in relief and delight.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The Uchiha said excitedly, happy for the distraction so that he could get away from the creepy man. The boy ran over and hugged himself to the Jounins leg, sending a warning hiss in Naruto's direction. "You finally came! I missed you so much!"

"Now now, there's no need for fighting, there's enough of me for everyone." Kakashi-sensei drawled lazily, his eye smiling happily, going along with Sasuke's odd behaviour without even a blink as he patted the boy on his head.

"Purring purring purring..." Sasuke whispered as he squeezed Kakashi-sensei an extra time, fighting back a smile. The masked man made a scooting gesture towards Naruto and Sakura as he cooed slightly. The dark haired teen looked up at Kakashi again before stepping quietly away from the Jounin to stand by his two teammates in a neat line.

Kakashi-sensei ignored the occurrence that just happened between himself and Sasuke as he turned to the client. "Kazuki-san, I apologise for being late but it would seem that I got lost trying to find my way here." Kakashi said with sincerity as Naruto nodded obediently with his teammates and the black haired man just stared at the whole team like they just told him that they loved to run around naked.

"I should have requested another team..." Kazuki muttered as he rolled his eyes, bristling in annoyance as he ran his fingers along the scar on his face. "Let's just go so I won't be later than I'm already are because of your tardiness."

"Alright team," Kakashi said as he turned to the three 12 year olds and Naruto's back stood a little straighter at his sensei's commanding voice. "Do you have everything we talked about prepared?"

"Yes, we went over it while you were... lost. Scrolls, kunai, shuriken, earpieces, tags..." Sakura-chan said dully. "like we always do."

"That's great!" The silver haired man said, clasping his hands together as he ignored the jab at his personality. "Let's move out then!"

* * *

 _Oh my God_... Sasuke thought in dismay as he took a long sip of the the cool water. _It's so fucking hot._ The sun was killing him, he never really had a good time with loads of sun and it would seem like stuff like that carried over in lives. It was horrible, the heat was disgusting. He just wanted to be home in his nice, comfy and most importantly cool house.

Sasuke stuck his tongue out in disgust as he moved his blue soaked and sticky tank top away from his chest in disgust. He didn't even know what was the water he had held out over himself or what was the sweat from being in the annoying sun too long. Sasuke let the shirt go and it stuck itself to his body as Sakura took another long drink of her bottle.

"You know you're going to have to pee constantly with all that water you're putting in your body, right?" Sasuke asked her slowly. "And it's only making you sweat more."

She turned to him with narrowed eyes. "That's only a myth. It was never proven that drinking a lot of water makes you sweat more."

"I don't get you two." Naruto said inserting his own thoughts into the conversation as he tilted his head in that cute foxy way.

Sasuke frowned, looking the orange clad boy up and down. He was dressed in that thick orange and blue jumper he always wore, not really noticing the burning heat. "I say we ignore the heat freak." He said, completely dismissing Naruto.

"I agree." Sakura said and turned to him, mock whispering some random words in his ear as she made sure to look pointedly at Naruto's clothes.

"Yeah totally." He whispered back, pretending that she had even said anything he could understand and grinned at the blonde boy who began looking annoyed.

Naruto huffed and made a show of turning to Kakashi-sensei so that he could talk to him instead. The man also looked bothered by the weather, but had chosen to just use a slightly shorter shirt and remove his gloves in an attempt to cool himself. The man looked back at Naruto for a long moment with a narrowed eye before walking past the blonde over to Sakura and Sasuke, ignoring the boy.

"Come on!" Naruto exclaimed like a dragon as he looked back at them and threw his hands up into the air. The boy muttered something under his breath as he turned to the client who was looking curiously between team 7's members. "Why did you even go to konoha in the first place?" He asked, trying to stir up a conversation now that his teammates had abandoned him.

"Oh," the man said, focusing his gaze back on the blonde. He smiled slightly. "I had some business in konoha but was mugged on my way there so I thought it would safest to hire some genin to protect me."

"Makes sense," Naruto said slowly as the man returned to his own thoughts. "What did you think about the village?"

Kazuki huffed, rolling his eyes at the boy's question. "It was fine." He said shortly, slowing his pace slightly so that he was walking besides Sakura, Kakashi and Sasuke.

Naruto looked dissatisfied with the man's response as he sulked quietly. Naruto kicked at a Small pebble, making it jump along the ground. Sasuke grinned and skipped over to his teammate, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Want to play a game?" He asked with a smile, that was enough teasing for today. Naruto nodded with a smile, sensing Sasuke's intent with his freaky inbuilt lie detector. "It's called I spy."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, looking absolutely unimpressed. "Really?" He asked monotonous. "I spy? Can you be more creative?"

"Well," Sasuke said with a grin as he poked a finger at Naruto's eye. The blonde tilted his head to the side and Sasuke's finger hit air. "We could always play 'who can poke the other's eye out first so that we can look like sensei.'"

"I vote for I spy." Sakura said as she joined them.

Naruto looked at her for a moment. "Is spy something beautiful." He said and blushed, the crimson color covering his whole face.

"Sasuke?" The darker haired boy of the two said innocently as he tilted his head, grinning at the way Naruto's blush turned into an enraged sputtering.

"No! Sakura-chan!"

"Awww," Sasuke cooed, slinging an arm around his teammates. "Don't worry. I'm still the second most beautiful here then."

Sakura rolled her eyes, having learned to just ignore her teammate when he did weird things without any context. Naruto gagged as he escaped Sasuke's arm. "Ew. Beautiful? More like grotesque."

"Wow." Sakura suddenly said as she blinked owlishly at her shorter teammate.

Sasuke and Naruto frowned. "What?" They asked in confusion.

"You just said grotesque."

"So?"

Sasuke froze as he connected to dots, realizing what exactly Sakura thought was so amazing and began laughing uncontrollably. "Oh God!"

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto snapped in exasperation when he caught her meaning like a cat catching its prey.

"Sorry Naruto," Sakura winced. "I'm just not all that used to you..." She trailed off, not really being able to find the right word.

Naruto twitched. "I get it, I don't think I would if it wasn't for-"

"Ambush," Kakashi-sensei whispered harshly as he appeared among them with the client in a puff of smoke - scaring the shit out of them while he was at it. The genin tensed in a flash and looked around the area. "Three people. It's further up ahead, there's always the chance that it's not us they're after. But stay alert and _don't_ panic."

Naruto swallowed and looked over at the client whose eyes darted around nervously, looking at all the plants around them like they would suddenly attack him.

"Alright," Sasuke said as he nodded tensely. Sasuke looked over at Sakura who was frozen to the spot, her teeth grinding together. "What formation do we take?"

Kakashi looked at them and sighed loudly, his eyes suddenly looking ten years older. "Naruto in the back with Sakura, Sasuke and Kazuki-san in the middle and I'll be taking front."

"Formation B..." Naruto muttered to himself. That meant that Sasuke was on as a medical ninja and occasional weapon support. But no using chakra, he had to save up for the chance that they needed healing.

"Alright let's move out." Kakashi-sensei said and turned away from them. He began sauntering ahead and they followed quietly after. The man paused in his walking and looked back to where Sakura was standing rooted to the ground, not moving an inch.

"Sakura," Kakashi gently said and she looked up. Naruto winced besides Sasuke, massaging his temples. "Relax, I don't let my comrades die. I'll protect you if necessary." Kakashi-sensei's eye arched into that shape he used to siginfy a smile.

Sakura took a slightly shaky step, followed by a few more and walked up to Naruto, nodding once to show that she was ready. Kakashi looked at them before continuing on down the path, the team falling into formation behind him.

Kakashi made a signal with his hand after they had walked for a while. _Ambush_. Sasuke forced himself to relax as he sent the message on to Naruto and Sakura with a different gesture.

Sasuke looked up at the man - _Kazuki_ \- resisting the urge to look behind him- with narrowed eyes. There was always the chance that he had lied about the dangers in the mission. But Naruto would have sensed it if he was lying. Unless the man already knew about the ambush before hand-

Sasuke's Sharingan flared to life - his sudden suspicions confirmed - when the client's foot suddenly flashed out. Sasuke twisted his body backward, placing his hands on the ground and sent a kick flying up to the man's jaw. Kazuki jumped back in a graceful movement, avoiding the kick by a meter.

Sasuke flashed his eyes over to his teammates for a brief second -not daring to look away from his opponent for a longer time than that-, blessing the fact that he only needed one second with the Sharingan to get a good look at their situation. They were frozen, standing completely still in surprise, not expecting the client to be in on the ambush.

 _Damit..._

The Uchiha sprung back up to his feet, locking eyes with Kazuki before looking over at Kakashi-sensei for a second.

He was fighting two people. The silver haired man was fighting against a woman with bright sun yellow hair dressed in a purple suspender jumper, revealing her bare back to the world. The second person he was fighting was a man with long white hair tied into a ponytail, he had casual clothes, blue shorts and a white t-shirt with a katana strapped to his waist. That meant that there was one left, excluding the _client_. Sasuke looked around, keeping Kazuki in his vision at all times as he served for anything that would reveal the last person's location.

The man Sasuke was facing waved at Sasuke with a cheerful face and then he disappeared with a little _pop_.

Sasuke jumped slightly in surprise and looked around in confusion. _What kind of jutsu does that kind of bs?_

He froze when he finally spotted the last person. He was a big man with balding brown hair, he was dressed like the other male from the ambush, casual clothes. A pair of black pants and a grey shirt. He had a sword as well. Sasuke mentally dubbed him Baldy.

The man was going after Sasuke's teammates.

Baldy wasn't very fast.

Sakura unfroze and grabbed a kunai in each of her hands, moving in front of naruto with a quick movement, entering a frozen battle position. She whispered something with sounded suspiciously like a quote from the shinobi rules.

Sasuke began preparing his chakra to activate the body flicker.

He winced in frustration, bordering on throwing a tampture tantrum when he accidentally grabbed at the useless black chakra in his hurried panic. The man unsheathed his sword, its blade gleaming in the sun as he held it above him when he closed in on the two shortest members of team 7. Sakura screamed, covering her head as she made herself smaller by bending down to the ground - her bravery peeling away at the threat of death. The man prepared to slash down on the girl when Sasuke _finally_ got a hold on the right type of chakra from his system.

Activating the Body Flicker, Sasuke ran towards his teammates as fast as his body enhanced by his chakra could carry him. He pulled out a few knives from his back pouch before he skidded underneath the man's wide attacking stance. The jutsu ended and Sasuke appeared lying with his back on the ground underneath the man who was about to cut into Sakura's hastily crossed arms with a puff of white chakra smoke. Baldy looked down at Sasuke, who made a menacing picture with his glaring red eyes. The man's green eyes - which reminded Sasuke too much of Rukia for his own comfort- widened in fear, realizing what was about to happen but too slow to do anything.

Pulling chakra into the knives, Sasuke didn't waste any time. Having decided to deal with the mental breakdown he would probably have because of his actions later.

Sasuke wasn't unfamiliar with death, people died in operations all the time, even if Rukia shielded him from the worst procedures. Like that one man who had his gut ripped open, he didn't survive and Rukia had refused to let Sasuke anywhere near the man. Not that Sasuke really wanted to fix up a gory mess like that. He had seen plenty of people die, on others operations table and sometimes on his own. But Sasuke had never lost anyone from his own mistakes, those he lost were usually a lost cause the moment they got on the table. He might have required a bit of therapy after his first loss, that was a boring talk. He had just never consciously taken or even tried to do it.

Sasuke aimed in a part of a second and threw the knives with all his might. The boy gritted his teeth, hoping that the man was slow enough not to be able to dodge the knives in time.

He wasn't.

The man made a _"gurk!"_ sound when the first knife reached him. It penetrated the man right in his jaw with a squishy sound and was followed by a knife that went into his throat - killing the man instantly. Blood dripped down the handle of the knife stuck in the man's head, dropping a few drops of the thick reddish liquid on Sasuke's face.

Some of it even hit his eye, making him hiss in pain. Blinding him on the right side.

Sasuke's eye - which wasn't screaming in agony - grew huge in horror when the man suddenly slumped, his sword slipping out of the man's hands in slow motion. Sasuke's brain paused for a part of a second when the reality of the situation dawned on him, the man was going to fall down on him! Sasuke scrambled, trying to get away, but was too slow as the man's heavy body fell down on him, crushing Sasuke underneath his superior weight.

Sasuke looked up, his breathing already beginning to become strained as he pulled his chakra into his torso so that it would survive the pressure easier. He glanced over at Kakashi-sensei who was engaging the three other enemies in combat, dodging around them like a professional dancer among amateurs. They hadn't noticed the leaving of their comrade.

 _Lucky me._

Sasuke pushed against the man, his arms not really making the man's large body move an inch. His nose wrinkled in disgust when he felt blood soak into his shirt.

"So, anyone gonna help me?" Sasuke wheezed when sakura dropped her kunai, the blades sinking into the ground with a sink.

Sakura blinked at the body. Then at Sasuke. Then at the body again. She slapped a hand over her mouth, holding back a sob as tears began flowing down her cheeks.

"Please?" Sasuke whispered urgently.

She lost her balance, tilting back down on her rear, her legs not allowing her to be above the ground anymore. "A shi-shinobi must not show his t-te-tears." She stuttered, her shaking arms pushing herself up so she could crawl over to Sasuke. The pink haired girl shook, trying to find a blood free spot and pushed against the man with her shaking hands when she finally found one.

"One, Two..." She began, putting on a brave face as she signaled to Sasuke when to push.

" _Three._ " Sasuke pushed, using all his admittedly limited strength to help Sakura push Baldy's body of himself. The large form was pushed of Sasuke and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, air returning to his lungs when Baldy finally got removed.

"Ugh," Sasuke winced, trying to rub the blood out of his eye in vain. "That's unpleasant."

"...Naruto?" Sakura asked, waving a hand in front of Naruto's panicking pale face. "...You there?" She asked hesitantly.

"I think he's panicking." Sasuke told her, curiously waving his own hand in front of the boy's face.

Naruto growled, slapping Sasuke's hand away. "Like hell I am, I was just..." he trailed off, clenching his jaw, his teeth gritting together. "What happened to your eye?" He finally asked.

"Red flowing pain happened."

"Sounds painful."

"No shit." Sasuke deadpaned.

"Guys..." Sakura suddenly whispered urgently, her eyes growing wide as she froze on on the spot. Sasuke turned, his blood turning to ice as he cursed his damned bad luck.

"Clones." He choked quickly, a lump getting caught in the back of his throat. Naruto glanced at Sasuke, crossing his hands in a quick movement as he created a few shadow clones which popped fourth from puffs of white smoke. The clones began moving into position around them.

Kakashi-sensei was down. Defeated by the enemies.

 _So much for protecting us with his life..._

The woman with the blonde hair was busy dragging Kakashi-sensei's unconscious body over to a thick tree, rope slung over her shoulder. The fake client was looking over at them with a curious look in his eyes, not seeming to care about the death of Baldy while the white haired looked at them with a murderous expressions, the rage clear in his expression. The man wasn't paying them much attention, constantly shifting his attention to the body at their their feet.

Sakura swallowed when the client leaned over the rage filled man's shoulder, whispering something in his ears. The man seemed to calm a bit down, but kept his eyes trained on their forms, his eyes narrowing at Sasuke's bloodied form. Sasuke suddenly felt self conscious.

"What do we do?" Naruto asked.

"We do our best?" Sakura squeaked out, her voice making a slight crack.

"There's nothing else we can do," Sasuke agreed as he swept a bit of blood from his face, only managing the smear the red liquid all over his hands. "We need to be on our best game here, don't worry about dying, cut we're going to die anyway if we don't do anything."

"What's our plan?" Naruto asked when Sakura took a step back, standing behind Sasuke.

"It looks like they're waiting for some reason, so let's take this opportunity to do formation T." She said before jumping back.

"Yes sir." Sasuke replied, saluting shortly as he moved to the side.

Naruto crossed his hands again, creating a horde of clones while obscuring the area with the smoke. The white chakra waste disappeared in a few seconds to reveal that Sakura was nowhere in sight. The white haired man finished listening to whatever Kazuki had to say, stepping towards the clones as he slowly drew his katana. The fake client winked at the team as he sat down on the dry ground, crossing his legs.

"Mizi! Remember that we need their chests breathing with life! We're letting you do this, so that means no killing those little life killers!" The woman called out as she strapped something around Kakashi-sensei's neck.

 _Alive? They needed them us?_ That meant that the threat of death just disappeared into the air but it created the question of why _Gato_ , the owner of the biggest shipping company in this world would needed them for. _But no time like later!_ Sasuke thought frantically when the man Mizi finally sprung into action, his sword cutting into several unfortunate clones which couldn't get out of the way quickly enough.

A small genjutsu with Sakura's distinct signature washed over them, concealing the pink haired girl's location inside the forest a little bit. It was the demonic surroundings jutsu.

"Did you get that?" Sasuke whispered, tapping his earpiece as he watched several of Naruto's clones go down in miserable and pathetic deaths. "And Naruto? We need to do something about that taijutsu of yours, this is pathetic to watch."

-Yes,- Sakura's voice said in his ear. -I need some more cover.-

-Don't forget me.- Naruto whispered harshly into Sasuke's ear, no doubt annoyed by Sasuke's comment as he took a small break from creating clones.

"Two orders of covers coming up!" Sasuke replied, glancing briefly in Sakura's direction before switching himself with one of Naruto's clones. He appeared in a puff of chakra in front the mobbed man, just outside the range of his sword. Their eyes met for a few seconds before the man growled, swinging his sword at Sasuke who wasn't quick enough to switch back. "Cover delivered!" He announced cheerfully into his microphone, placing a hand with a medical jutsu on the swallow cut on his right arm. Healing it in a few seconds.

-You alright?- Sakura asked.

"Sure, it was just a small cut," Sasuke dismissed. "Nothing special. "

-You got hit!?- Naruto whispered urgently, drawing back away from the man, forming a string of hand seals. -listen! I think they use poisons, that's the only way Kakashi-sensei would go down that quickly!-

"Let's just continue as planned." Sasuke muttered, hiding among the many clones the man was continuing to mercilessly cut down. He made a gesture with his hands and the clones around him made a wide berth from Sasuke to Whitey. Changing the genjutsu with a quick glance, Sasuke made the man stand still, the everlasting battle against the clones continuing inside his head as the man wished.

-I have a clear shot.- Sakura said.

"Right-to," Sasuke replied, running his hands clumsily through the seals needed for his fire jutsu. Breathing in, sasuke spit out a giant fireball towards the man as the 'twang' of an arrow being released went into his ear through his com.

The arrow coated in as much water chakra Sakura could control, tore through the air a second later. The arrow was just barely visible to Sasuke's sharingan as it entered the fireball, aimed for the white haired man's thigh.

But it never hit as the fire from sasuke's jutsu suddenly disappeared and the arrow was grabbed out of the air by mister fake client who appeared with with a small pop among the many clones with the blonde lady. The orange clad clones blinked at the man, not really believing what the man had just done. "I would prefer if you didn't kill my subordinates." He said and disappeared with a _pop_ again, leaving the woman behind.

 _"What is this? Freaking Harry Potter!?"_ Sasuke moaned in annoyance.

The blonde turned to the sword wielding man, slapping him in the face, hard. "Mizi! You idiot! You're in a genjutsu!"

"-Whaa?" Whitey answered, looking around. His eyes widened when he no doubt noticed the difference in his surroundings. "When did that happen?" The man asked, not at all concerned about his near death experience. "Oops?"

Naruto's clones didn't let the two finish speaking, attacking the two with all their combined might. The woman laughed, jumping over a clone by smashing its face into the dirt. "This is just like that wet job in rain!" She grinned, punching a clone in the face.

"Except it was water jutsus and not kids." The man returned.

-I'm firing.- Sakura said in his ear and an arrow flew at the two, only to be stopped again when the woman just snatched it out of the air. The blonde woman looked at the arrow, snapping it on the middle with a small twist of her hands. Sakura gave an inhuman scream of rage and frustration.

-How about we all attack?- Naruto asked with absolute giddiness lancing his voice.

Sasuke blinked, cold sweat running down his back, instantly recognizing Naruto's tone.

Then he got the hell out of there using the body flicker as clones began retreating.

Sakura growled in agreement and a giant explosion went off the next second, filling the area with a fiery chaos when Naruto's clones began to use their explosive tags.

-That's what I call a hot end.- Naruto whispered with glee.

"Those kids are pissing me off, I'm done playing." A dark voice said when the cloud of fire disappeared and a cube of earth crumbled down, revealing the two adults without a single scratch on them.

A weird feeling suddenly gripped at Sasuke's heart, and he felt it hammering inside his chest. Sasuke clutched at his heart the unsettling feeling taking his breath away. He closed the eye not filled with another person's blood, leaning against the tree he was using as cover.

Then it stopped. Disappearing after what felt like a hour and Sasuke peered out from behind the tree, realizing what exactly the pressure was.

Killing intent, very strong killing intent. Not at all like the one Hinata had when Sasuke did something the crazy girl didn't like.

And he thought that was an uncomfortable feeling.

-What- what was that?- Sakura's slightly static and panting voice asked fearfully.

"killing intent," Sasuke answered as he stepped out from behind the tree. He continued talking when he heard her take a shaky breath. "Naruto's down."

-What how!?- she screeched loudly.

"Couldn't take the mood!" Sasuke replied cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit as he body flickered over to Naruto's unconscious form. He checked the boy's pulse, just to be safe and scooped him up into his arms, dodging a cube of earth rising out of the ground to slap Sasuke in the face while he was at it.

They were so freaking _screwed_.

-Seriously? Now of all times!?- Sakura screeched as Sasuke threw Naruto - with a mental apology of course- at a bush, but not before stealing-borrowing some random seals from the boy's pouch. He didn't reach the bush because Sasuke couldn't throw him that far so he ended up smashing into the grass besides the road.

"Sorry!" He whispered at the unconscious boy.

"Yup!" Sasuke replied to Sakura, twirling around another giant piece of earth rising from the ground. Only to come face to face with the blonde woman's night blue eyes.

 _Nope!_

-Damit!- Sakura growled and Sasuke couldn't help but laugh that ripped its way out of him as he stared into the woman's eyes for a second before body flickering away.

Sasuke took a good look around the area, noticing that Whitey was gone. Lady blonde locked eyes with him and Sasuke didn't even bother to try and put her in a genjutsu. "I agree with your assessment!"

Sakura snarled in his ear. -Sasuke! Stop being so fucking happy!-

"Kinda trying to cope with our future defeat here!" He cheered throwing a few knives at the woman when she sprinted forwards, her hands positioned to punch him. _Shit shit shit._

-Like hell we're giving up! We continue until we're down to the last man!-

Sasuke did a double take, pausing as his brain caught up to what his teammate just said and he received a fist to his stomach as a reward. Rolling on the ground, sasuke gasped. "Did you- did you just quote the shinobi rules." He asked when an arrow flew at the woman, stopping her from continuing her attack while Sasuke recovered from the hit.

-You alright?-

"I am now, thanks," Sasuke replied, tieing a mystery seal around one of his knives. He jumped up onto one of the many cubes of earth, throwing the knives at the woman. "You know what we need? A sniper rifle, I can totally see you being badass with one."

-We don't have time for your- - Sakura's voice suddenly cut off, followed by the sound of metal sinking into wood -the other one is here! -

"What? Are you alright?" He asked, jumping away when the woman threw kunai at him, dodging his knives which exploded in lighting. One of the woman's kunai gazed his arm, drawing a bit of blood.

Sasuke was seriously beginning to get tired.

-I. Don't. Have. Time for. Talking.- Sakura grunted and the line went dead.

Placering his hand on the cut, sasuke began healing it when the woman just stopped moving as if she was waiting for something to happen. "What do you say about letting us go?" He asked hopefully.

She scowled. "Do you really think I would let you go after what you kids made Senri go?"

"Well," Sasuke replied with a shrug. "You can always try."

"Sooooo... what are we waiting for?" Sasuke asked when she continued to stand still, observing him with narrowed eyes.

"How come the poison didn't work on you?" She mused as she rubbed her chin in thought. Sasuke blinked in confusion, _what poison?_

"No matter," She whispered, a smile appearing on her face as she made a few hand seals Sasuke's eye couldn't follow. She grinned and something hard slammed into Sasuke from behind, knocking him down to the ground.

 _Should have expected that._ Sasuke grunted mentally, resisting the urge to slap himself. That wouldn't help in this station.

The Uchiha rolled away, glancing behind him at the large amount of rock which had been raised from the ground to knock him over. Sasuke grunted, activating the body flicker jutsu when another slap of earth rose from the ground at a blinding speed. It began tipping over, falling towards Sasuke. He used the enchanted speed to quickly run away from the giant block of earth and stopped it behind the woman. He mentally cursed his chakra control which wasn't back up to his previous level as he made the three hand seals as swiftly as he could. Sasuke activated the jutsu at the last second when the blonde woman's arm flashed into his sight and the praylizasition jutsu did it's work when she froze, her fist a hair breadth away from his face.

Sasuke bolted away as fast as his strong legs could carry him as he pulled out a few knives, he stopped, throwing the knives with pinpoint accuracy. The woman twitched and _Too late_ , ran through Sasuke's mind as she slipped down to the ground like some kind of snake and the knives sailed peacefully over her body. She flipped up to her feet, throwing her hands towards him like she threw something and small pieces of rock flew from her hands at an acceleration Sasuke's eye couldn't follow. The rocks hit Sasuke square in the chest, throwing him back onto the ground.

Sasuke gasped, rolling around onto his back as he bit back a growl. His eye grew big when the woman appeared in his sight smiling happily. "This is for Senri." She growled, the smile bleeding away for menacing eyes.

 _Shit! No no no no no no!_ Sasuke screamed in his head, trying to force his exhausted body to move. Then the woman reared back her leg and kicked against his head, throwing his panicked mind into unconsciousness.

Mister Shadow had been strangely silent the whole day.

* * *

Mai glanced down at the unconscious boy as blood slowly seeped out of the wound on his head from where she had kicked him in her admittedly uncharacteristic rage. But that little shit had killed Senri, she didn't even want to touch him. She couldn't help it at the thought of her life long friend and tears began blurring her vision.

"I did not imagine that any of the genin would have the ability to resist my poison," Kazuki told her as he walked over to them, checking the boy's pulse to confirm that the dark haired boy was still alive after her kick. "Very curious." He muttered, pulling the boy up into his arms.

"We got the last branch of money makers, where's our money?" She snapped at Kazuki as he put the boy down besides his unconscious teacher.

"You'll get it once Gato receives them safely. Not before, that was our contact. I don't care that one of you died, that just means he wasn't good enough," The dark haired male said unsympathetically as he strapped the chakra blocker on the boy's wrist. "Go get the blonde boy."

Mai growled, but didn't dare oppose the man, Kazuki had an amazingly scary ability which she never wanted to be the opponent of. She crouched by the genin and tilted his head out of the dirt, sweeping the ground from his little toned face. _I was right! He is cute, look at those adorable whiskers!_

She smiled as she took the boy into her arms, taking him over to his teammates where Kazuki put a chakra blocker on him.

"Hey Mai! Think you can take this load from me?" Mizi's voice said behind her. She turned around to her other, and very much alive lifelong friend and stilled at the arrow running through his left leg. He was holding the last genin, a girl with bright pink hair.

Running over to him, Mai began bombarding him with questions as she took the girl into her arms. "What happened? Are you okay? Do you need anything? Does it hurt? How did you even get hit? Do we need a medic?"

"Mai," he replied, as she supported his weight, walking slowly. "Not right now."

"Sorry, I just don't- I don't want to lose you too." Mai replied, choking up.

"Senri would want us to continue with our dream, right?"

Mai let a small smile tug at her lips. "Yeah, he would," she grinned. "I guess we can say you got an arrow to the knee."

Mizi snorted in pained amusement.

"What happened to you?" Kazuki asked, unconcerned by the arrow pierced into Mizi's leg as he gestured to the ground for them to drop off the girl besides her teammates.

"She wanted to take some of me down with her," Mizi grinned despite the pain he must have been in when she dumped the girl. "Shot me right in the leg before passing out from the poison."

Mizi looked over at the dark haired boy. "Is that the one?"

"Yeah, he threw around knives that matched the ones in your friend's body." Kazuki told the white haired man bluntly.

Mizi gave gave a dark scowl, unsheathing his sword just just a fraction as he hobbled over to the boy.

Quickly putting her hand on Mizi hand so that he couldn't draw the sword, Mai shook her head slowly. "We're not murderers like them, besides. He's going a worse place than death."

"That kid is also worth quite a bit!" Kazuki exclaimed from where he was leaning casually against the tree. "Medical ninjutsu, Sharingan, elemental jutsu, knives and body flicker. The whole package! My master is going to be pleased when I a complicated my mission early!" The scared man laughed to himself, looking over the captured genin and their teacher.

"Come on Mizi," Mai commanded softly, shaking a bit when her eye began to sting from her tears. "Let's go give Senri the proper respect he deserves."

* * *

Everything was strange, the spinning light, the blurred dark colors which melted into green. The hard stone under her scraped painfully against her knees as she grasped at the green grass with her hands, trying to get in touch with reality.

Something was wrong, she didn't know any of this, it was completely foreign. Like she had been pushed to another plain of existence. She frowned in confusion when a hand meet her arm, pulling her up her delirious self, even though she was still holding the grass in a crushing grip. She screamed and trashed when another hand joined the other as it pulled her unmoving form up from the cold ground. The green and dark shapes gave way to a blinding blue light and she blew a bit of grass out of her face as she shut her eyes tightly again. She blinked, white spots of many sizes clearing up in her vision as she stared at the blue sky which was slightly hidden by the crown of a giant tree.

"Sakura? Wh-" She whispered hoarsely as her voice broke before she could finish and gripped at the grass again, her fingers sucking in the unfamiliar feeling. She looked to the side and her head followed almost automatically as she willed it to moved. She glanced up the large tree which had a few kunai stuck in random places.

 _Her_ hands moved up above _her_ head when she looked up again, moving with her thoughts, she didn't even have to _think_ about it for them to move. She poked the hand and giggled at the unfamiliar feeling of skin on skin contact. She moved _her_ hands to the mass of hair on her head and roamed them around, it was like the grass, just softer and slightly more greasy. She pulled her hands back, holding the hair tightly in her grip as she wondered at the pink strands tangled between her fingers. She tugged at the hair a bit too much and released it in surprise when pain erupted from her scalp.

" _I can feel pain_..." She whispered in a daze as her body did what she wanted and she sat up. She felt the way her muscles moved at the movement and looked down her legs at the red blue sandals and wiggled her toes - Well tried to, since they just moved a bit.

She leaned forwards, pulling herself over the outstretched legs and pulled them under her, rising to her feet in a swift movement that left her swaying a bit from dizziness. She fumbled with her legs and began marching stiffly over to the brighter area to her left. Pushing some leaves away from her path she was greeted by the sight of a pretty wide path. She blinked recognizing the knives lying scattered around a pool of blood, they were Sasuke-kun's. This path was where they had been ambushed and where were Sasuke-kun had kil- had. She choked, not really believing what had happened.

She bend down by the puddle and took the handle of a clean knife into her hand and looked at the clean blade as she stood up again. She clenched her jaw but stopped at the odd feeling as she glanced down the long and empty road.

She was _out_. But _how_? And where were Sakura?

 _What's g-ing on?_ A muffled voice asked in her mind. - _forest?_

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Captured**

* * *

 **Bonus: Kurenai.**

Kurenai had known about Hinata's training with the last Uchiha since they started sparring together on a regular basis. But she never really saw a change in the soft spoken girl, except for her grades improving gradually over time until she stole the position of rookie of the year from the Yamanaka girl. Nothing had changed in Hinata's life at home, her father still forced the girl to fight her younger sister and Hinata continued the refuse the man.

She never got the chance to watch the two children spar because of the ANBU constantly watching the Uchiha district wouldn't allow her to go in without being invited by the Uchiha heir himself. So Kurenai watched Hinata's progress from a roof when her academy class had practice. She had also meet the shinobi in charge of Uchiha Sasuke who was checking on her student, while analysing a particular spar where Hinata was dodging around Kiba Inuzuka's attacks like the boy was an amuture. Hinata had come so far since forming a friendship with the boy, it was good that she finally made some friends.

It also seemed like the only person she would to go all out against in the academy spars was her dark haired friend. It had become a competition of sorts between herself and Marion Rukia and herself to see which child were the stronger one.

Hinata won of course.

Kurenai had meet the boy a few times too after Hinata felt brave enough to introduce him to her. Kurenai already knew about their friendship, but it was nice to be formally introduced to Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was a bit odd, but he was good for Hinata so Kurenai would overlook the dark haired boy's more eccentric personality traits.

The boy saying that her eyes were amazingly stunning had nothing to do with it.

Kurenai had a good grasp of the Hyuuga girl's process after a few months. She was faster, stronger, braver and so much more. To say that Kurenai was very proud of Hinata would be an understatement. Her only regret was that she really did not have anything to do with Hinata's progress.

So Kurenai had a decent idea of what to do for her team's genin test, when she had fought her way through several Jounins to get the two genin she felt could form a strong team alongside Hinata.

First a tracking mission where they simply had to locate her. The test had gone exactly as she had predicted and they really did not have any difficulties in working together, utilizing each of their strengths at maximum potential. Kiba and Akamaru using their nose, Hinata using the byakugan and Shino who planted Kikaichu on her.

Then she wanted to test them for individual fighting abilities so she could get a good reading on everything not mentioned in their files. Shino and Kiba displayed the abilities written in their file, there hadn't been much misinformation on that front.

But Hinata.

Hinata had pushed Kurenai in their spar. Her taijutsu was easily _Chunin_ level and if Kuanai hadn't taken all those extra courses in taijutsu before being promoted to special Jounin then a girl who was fresh out of the academy would definitely had beaten her. Hinata _was_ from one of the clans with the strongest taijutsu in the village but Kurenai had admittedly - to her shame - underestimated the girl.

It also displayed why Kurenai was chosen to be Hinata's body guard and not a Hyuuga. The Hyuuga clan, with their nintaijutsu and byakugan were the worst match she could come up against. The byakugan would see though all her genjutsus and the gentle fist would render her taijutsu useless.

So if she ever tried to go rouge, there would be nothing for her to do because she would be useless in a fight against the clan.

Kurenai's abilities were also complementing abilities with the clans way of fighting, because she used genjutsu which covered the long range that gentle fist users did not have.

The whole team passed the test of course.

She was happy with her team. Two of its members did need some catching up to the girl of the team though. But that was an easy fix, and the reason why there were teams, was to cover each other's weaknesses.

Hiashi-sama actually seemed proud when Kurenai informed him of his daughter's passing to genin.

It was a good day for both Kurenai and her team.

* * *

 **Author's note: rewrite complete**

 **Some probably noticed that this chapter is** _ **very**_ **late compared to what I usually do. that's because I've had to rewrite chap 11 and 12 because I wrote the first version while being consumed by a writer's blog. this will hopefully not happen again for a long while. -I also changed the summary again.**

 **This story has officially reached over 100 followers. I never actually believed that so many people would actually want to read my writing. So many thanks to everyone who has followed and favourited this story, every follow, review and favourite motivate me to write more.**

 **(Warning, mini rant incoming)**

 **There's something that always bugged me about the way shinobi are trained in** _ **Naruto**_ **. It honestly seems like becoming a Jounin isn't hard because of the level of difference between Jounin and Chunin, but because after becoming Chunin there's really two ways to rank up. The Chunin has to become an ANBU or if they're lucky, the Jounin sensei will help them become stronger. Kurenai was around 27-28 years old before becoming a Jounin while we see others being at Jounin level of fighting abilities before leaving their teens. (Mental capacity is a whole other story, so I'm not going to go into that stuff)**

 **It seems that once you become a Chunin then that's it, no more help, it's either become better on your own or die. But there isn't shown any way for those without shinobi parents to progress after Chunin unless the Jounin teacher continues to guide them. That's a major issue in my opinion. It's like saying that you have to learn how to become, let's say a scientist without any help. That means that there's no one to help fix mistakes, give guidance and so on.**

 **But that's pretty much impossible. So unless you're a supergenius, in ANBU, has an apprenticeship or have a teacher who's willing to continue teaching, then it's cannon fodder time forever.**

 **If there was some kind of teachings to become Jonin in the series that I missed, then that just means that pretty much everyone in Naruto's generation are superginuses with fighting etc. Because then it would be impossible for them to be more advanced in fighting abilities than people twice or thrice their age. (Unless you're a main character) This has already become longer than I thought so I'm going to stop here, but I think you people get what I'm saying.**

 **Constructive criticism is** _ **always**_ **appreciated.**

 **\- Kenjo Catze**

* * *

 **Review answer time thing:**

Not-Gonna-Update: _yes, Dalek!Sasuke is very annoying. XD (your username is still awesome btw)_

DarkDusk27, Sophiebybophie and JackFrost14: _thanks for the reviews!_

4everfictional: _thanks for all the comments, they helped me get out of my long writers block._

BirdBoss: _wow, thanks for all your thoughts about my story. It's always good to be told what you can do better, and don't be afraid to sound a bit harsh, I appreciate all criticism._

 _I also Googled what 'Deus ex machina' was so I knew what you meant in the chapter 6 review. Chakra poisoning is actually mentioned by Sasuke, or was it Kabuto? In chapter 4. Sasuke got the Sharingan in training with Rukia. I try my hardest to not just shove things into the story that does not have_ any _background, so I hope that answered some of the questions you had. :D_


	12. Chapter 12: Captured

_I don't own Naruto. If I did, then I would properly be male..._

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter is a bit dark in my opinion, so please tell me if the rating should go up.**

 **Also, there's a lot of new (oc) characters in this chapter so it might seems confusing.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Captured**

* * *

Sasuke was currently spending his second 13th birthday exactly as he had imagined it. Surrounded by strange kids all dressed in the same type of boring outfits, white tank top, black shorts and an armband with lines of seals Sasuke had no way of interpenetrating.

Who would ever want to have a birthday at home with friends and cake?

The Uchiha had woken up after a dreamless sleep, forcefully suppressing the immediate panic flooding his body when he woke in an unfamiliar place, dressed in unfamiliar clothes.

The first thing that his brain forced on him was need to curl into a ball and bawl his eyes out. It was exactly why he had decided to become a shinobi in the first place, to prevent things like this situation. To remove the chance of him being used by other people.

But now was not the time to let his emotions control him, he had teammates who was going to need him to be on his best game. So thinking about how that man's blood had soaked-

 _No_.

He wasn't thinking about things like that. Sasuke felt for his heartbeat, using the rhythm to focus his mind on other things.

Sasuke had been dragged up against a dirty wall in a large room that looked suspiciously like an old dungeon as he pretend to still be unconscious. The room's walls were made of large rocks placed together in an intriguing puzzle, seamlessly blending in with the moss peeking out the thin cracks, creating a thin layer of the organic plant reaching out of the cracks. The large room was split into five sections with bars making a cross in the middle of the room, separating all the cages from each other so that the people inside couldn't reach each other. On one of the crumbling yet sturdy walls besides the cage Sasuke had been put, there were a large study looking metal door. The only lighting in the room where five lights hanging on the walls, one in each end of the cross and two on either side of the door.

There were kids inside three of the four cages, two in one of the jail cells including Sakura who were still unconscious, there were two others besides the blonde himself in Naruto's, while there was three other kids in Sasuke's. The last cage had a long wooden table with a dirty and ripped grey cover thrown messily on top, the table was lined along one of the two sides with bars. In the corner with actual walls were a filthy toilet pressed up against the walls with an equally dirty wash basin with a glass of soap a little bit away from it. The setup could not be very hygienic despite the two room dividers that was clearly used to get at least some sense of cleanness.

The first kid inside Sasuke's little cage of home-ness was a boy younger than himself, looking to be around eleven years old. The boy was leaning against the only wall exclusive corner inside Sasuke's cage, his annoyed eyes were the color of the sea and his hair was a fluffy, if not slightly greasy black.

The second person inside Sasuke's cage was also a boy, this time he was older than Sasuke, looking to be around 16 years. The boy was sitting besides Sasuke as he occasionally took the time to poke him with a devious smile on his face. He had shaggy blue hair which was a few shades deeper than Naruto's eyes and his light brown, almost white eyes stared out unseeingly at the bars in front of him, revealing the boy's blindness. The older boy had scar curving from the right side of his forehead to his eye before continuing to his right ear, making a half circle on the boy's face. He was admittedly pretty handsome.

The last person was a girl, around two years older than Sasuke. She was standing against the barrier, talking to one of the boy's in the other cages as she applied pressure to to a large cut on her right arm Sasuke's fingers twitched to heal. The girl had hair as white as clouds drifting peacefully on a calm day and Sasuke wondered how she kept it so clean in a disgusting place as the one they were. Maybe she washed it in the sink everyday. She had awesome red eyes - like everyone else with red eyes, red eyes where the best eye color in the world.

"When do you think they will wake up?" The girl from Naruto's cage asked curiously as she crouched by the snoring boy. The girl looked to be the same age as the youngest boy in Sasuke's cage. She had messy black hair cut in a banged pixie cut and earth brown eyes that shined in wonder as she touched Naruto's whisker marks.

"He seems to be having a good dream, I'm jealous." The other boy in the cage commented as he looked at Naruto's face when he began mumbling about ramen in his sleep. The other boy in the cage with Sasuke's blonde teammate was a boy around 14 years old with a very unevenly and choppily cut reddish hair and golden eyes that made Sasuke seriously wish that the Sharingan was golden instead of crimson.

"At least one of them is having a good dream," The boy in Sakura's cage grunted, slightly put off when the pink haired girl tried to pull his feet from his body with a growl as she slept on. He moved out of her range. "She seems to think I'm some enemy mooshroom." The boy was around 14 with short white hair, green eyes and dark skin. He was also injured like the other girl with white hair. Black and blue bruises were crawling up his exposed arms, and Sasuke felt like smashing his face into the stone walls, but he was pretty sure that the armband strapped around his arm was for sealing away his chakra.

"Maybe she just want to eat your feet?" The blind boy asked from besides Sasuke.

"Ew," the white haired girl said in disgust as she lifted her injured arm in an annoyed gesture. "That's so gross."

Sasuke blinked a few times, deciding to finally announce to the other children -he wasn't a child damit! At least not mentally- that he was awake. "Hi?" Sasuke asked and everyone who was awake snapped their head towards him, drilling holes in his head with their gazes. Sasuke scratched the scar on his neck nervously as they continued to look at him like the new and exciting animal in the zoo, sasuke could almost feel them staring into soul, trying to figure him out.

"I'm Sasuke," he continued with a wary smile and the kids tense shoulders relaxed a tad bit, but they continued to bore holes in his head. Except the blue haired one, his eyes were looking past him. "And this is very awkward." Sasuke finished lamely.

The oldest boy barked in mirth and held a hand to his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter. "I'm Jeraru." he said, accidentally poking the boy in the ribs when he held out his hand in the wrong direction.

"Nice to meet you." Sasuke replied, smoothly grabbing the hand from his chest to give it a small shake.

"I'm Nami," the white haired girl said sweetly as she crouched by Sasuke, extending her hand to him in a greeting as she put her other arm on her knees, making her breasts look bigger by pushing them up. "It's wonderful to meet you."

"likewise." Sasuke smiled as he raised an eyebrow, pinning her beautiful red eyes down with his own boring black ones to convey a message as his brain could only really describe his amusement by giving a single _lol_. That kind of thing wasn't going to work on him, he too had boobs once upon a time.

"I'm Shiro." The little kid said, crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes gave Sasuke a death stare.

"That seems kinda..."

"Don't you dare say it."

"Alright," Sasuke said, putting his hands up in surrender. "It's nice to meet you anyway."

Shiro muttered darkly about how meeting Sasuke wasn't nice as the black haired girl from Naruto's cage stood up, smiling brightly as she gripped the bars, her shining attitude almost illuminating the whole room. "I'm Nico! It's amazing to meet you Sasuke-san."

"Good to meet you too!" Sasuke replied brightly, already tired of having to repeat the same line, just differently as he matched the girl's enthusiasm. _Only two left._

"I'm G." The redhead said, staying on the cold floor, his gold eyes leaving Sasuke to look at Naruto and the floor.

"Hi." Sasuke replied and turned his head to the last boy who were staying as far away from Sakura's raging and unconscious form.

"I'm..." the boy paused for some reason. "I'm Aimi." He said, leaning away from the pink haired girl when she made a gaping motion.

Sakura was twisting and turning in her sleep, not noticing the world around her as she continued to freak out the white haired boy she was locked inside with. Sasuke vowed silently to never have and sleepover with the girl.

"Soooo..." Sasuke drawled, happy to finally be done with the name round. "Where are we?"

"Seriously?" Shiro snapped, his dark eyebrow twitching in annoyance as he held up his left hand that had a leather armband around its wrist. "It's clearly a giant and involuntary blind date."

"That sounds kinda nice." Sasuke admitted. The thought that it just was a blind date and not slavery like he had the inkling of it being, was way nicer.

"No it's slavery! What did you think it was? A pool party?" The dark haired boy snapped at him.

Sasuke reeled, not expecting the boy's angry outburst. "Of course not," He told Shiro calmly so the younger boy wouldn't get upset again. "I was just using the hopeful part of my brain."

The boy's eyes rolled in his head as he muttered something, turning away from Sasuke.

There was an awkward silence.

"So," Sasuke said again when the silence got to him. He pointed to each of his teammates in turn. "Blondie is Naruto and Pinkie is Sakura."

"Who names their kid fish cake?" Aimi snickered.

"Shut up Aimi-kun, you're just jealous because your own name means _love beauty_." The white haired girl said sweetly and Jeraru snorted in amusement.

"Shut up!" The white haired boy shouted indignantly. "Mom just wanted a girl..." Aimi continued to mutter, his cheeks gaining a hint of pink.

"And Inazuma-san loved the name too much, to change it." Nami continued to tease the boy white haired boy who's green eyes flashed angrily.

"At least your mom wanted to give you a name..." G replied moodily.

"I hope Mai-san serves fish today," Nico said randomly, an admiring look on her face as she gazed out in the air. "It's my favourite."

"But we got fish a week ago," G complained with a whine. "I hate fish."

"I hate fish bones, they're always in my fish when I cook them myself." Jeraru said calmly, looking very satisfied.

"You're blind." Sasuke deadpaned.

"So?"

"You're cooking while blind." Sasuke continued in the same tone.

"Yes." The blue haired boy said, copying Sasuke's tone.

"That's so freaking awesome." Sasuke said excitedly.

"Exactly," The scared boy smiled a sad smile for a second before it was replaced by a grin. "I once accidentally put rough chilli powder from grass in my food instead of salt when I forgot to taste it first. It's was definitely an experience."

"Ouch," Sasuke winced. Grass was known to have some of the strongest types of chilli naturally growing in its in environment, and the chilli expropriation from the country usually consisted of some of the strongest chilli products on the marked. "That's a hot _burner_."

Jeraru laughed, tilting his head back. "High five." He said brightly, holding a hand up.

Sasuke grinned, slapping his hand against the boy's.

"I really love _seeing_ how people react when I cook for them." The blind boy said.

" _Really?_ "

"My God, shut up you two." Shiro interrupted darkly, cutting their conversation in half.

Naruto suddenly began to growled loudly, murmuring something in his sleep.

"I think he's waking up." Nico said, peering down at Naruto's unconscious body again as he growled deeply from the back of his throat.

"It's about time." Aimi said, still salty about Nami comment about his name.

Sasuke hummed, a demonic grin making its way to his lips. "Please stand away from him for a minute," He requested and nodded when the two kids moved away from Sasuke's teammate. Sasuke felt his grin widening even fit her if that was even possible as he put his hands around his mouth. "I'm the one who's going to be Hokage because Naruto overslept for his ceremony!" The dark haired boy shouted, watching in satisfaction when Naruto swung around, jumping to his feet, instantly waking up as he shouted.

"I'm the one who will be Hokage not you! You'd just make the whole village burn down to the ground in in a single day! Dattebayo!" Naruto pointed at Sasuke, his face turning red.

"Shut up Naruto! I'm trying to sleep!" Sakura screeched, scarring the skin out of Aimi, who jumped up in surprise. "Where am I?" She asked, swinging her head around to look around the cage.

"Uhhh," Naruto said nervously, scratching his neck as he looked around as well. "Sasuke... what's going on?" He asked looking at the boy from the corner of his eye as he kept the other children in his vision.

"Hello," Nico said shyly, stepping forwards before Sasuke could reply. "I'm Nico." She introduced herself.

Naruto blinked at her, his stance relaxing at her friendly attitude as his head tilted in that cute way. "Heya Nico! I'm Naruto!" He smiled and looked away from the disappointed girl who definitely had a small crush on Naruto, to look at Sasuke, his blue eyes flashing. "What's happening?" He said in a tone that told Sasuke it wasn't a question, but a demand.

"Well you know the usual business, getting kidnapped by slavers that doesn't like me by the way. You know the usual everyday thing."Sasuke replied flippantly, forcing the panic from his emotions so not to distress Naruto further.

"We've only been doing D-ranks for a few weeks," Sakura inserted dryly as she pushed herself up against the wall, her movement sluggish. "I don't see how that's the usual business..."

She suddenly shuddered, coughing violently into her hand as she buckled over. "Ugh," She leaned up again, leaning against the wall, shuttering in disgust as a he grimaced. "Don't eat Strange mushrooms." She muttered under her breath.

"You people are insane." Shiro snapped in disgust and turned away that the eyes snapping over to look at him.

"Oh, where am I now?" Sakura wondered out loud with with a dazed look in her eyes, like she was seeing something different than the people around her. "A dungeon? Could have sworn it was a forest two seconds ago." She whispered, glancing down at the floor in wonder.

Sasuke blinked at his teammate in surprise. _She must have hit her head to something..._

"I stand corrected," Shiro drawled. "You're all crazy."

"Sakura-chan? Are you alright?" Naruto asked the girl, ignoring Shiro's comment about their sanity.

"Yeah, don't worry," She said, the tone of her voice not making it easier to belive her words. "So, what's happening?"

"We've all been captured by slavers and then we're all going to be sold to some rich guy who has dealings in the black marked to be his or hers show dog." Shiro said bluntly.

"There's a lot of prestige in being able to keep a shinobi in line." Nami said, almost robotically as he nodded in agreement.

"How long has you guys even been here?" Naruto asked, noticing the tone she used. It was the sound of someone who was constantly being told the same thing.

"Few weeks," G admitted. "Jeraru has been here longer than all of us."

The blue haired boy waved a bit, showing Sasuke's two teammates who he was. "I'm Jeraru by the way."

"So they haven't done _anything_?" Naruto asked, gesturing around his cell after they held a small round of introductions to get the two newly awakened genin acquainted with their new 'roommates' and the situation. "Just kept you here?"

"Yeah." Jeraru answered, shrugging his as he turned his head towards the sound of Naruto's voice.

"Sounds boring," The blonde moaned bending over, his hair just barely touching the floor. His body snapped up like lightning, focusing on Sasuke. "We should escape." He whispered urgently, holding a hand to his cheek as if he was telling a secret.

"Good luck with that," Shiro muttered darkly and pointed at the bars separating them. "See those? They drain your chakra when you touch them, and they're also in the walls, floor and the ceiling. But go ahead an try. It'll just be more food for us when you die of chakra exhaustion."

"Shiro! Can you atleast try to be kind?" Nico said sharply to the dark haired boy who just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on his knees, leaning back against the corner of the cage.

"I'll show you!" Naruto growled, grasping the bars in a firm hold and the two grey poles he was holding began glowing a bright yellow - the color of his chakra, showing the drain. Naruto tensed his muscles and the genin watched with wide eyes as the bars bent a little bit under the pressure of his chakra enhanced limbs. The blonde boy let out a shaky puff of air when the glowing began lessening and released his red hands from the metal, slipping down to the ground. "Oh man," he huffed, clearly shaken about his loss of chakra. "I guess this is what Sakura-chan always talk about."

"You ran out!?" Sakura demanded hotly in disbelief and Sasuke couldn't blame her. Naruto was their trump card, the shield and handle for their blade. It was why Sasuke knew that they wasn't going to be able to escape during their fight, because every plan they had depended on Naruto defending them. Sakura did not really have any defensive abilities and Sasuke only had his speed for evasion. A tactic Sasuke favoured over all the different ways of fighting that existed, but it was useless once he meet someone who was as fast as himself.

They needed to train even more once they got out.

Never if.

"What's the big deal?" G asked in confusion, his red eyebrow rising up into his forehead. "It happens to us all when we touch it. It just goes faster when you're actually putting chakra into them."

"I've never been this dry before..." Naruto muttered in irritation, scratching his hair in jerky gestures. "Why don't you have a shirt?" He asked randomly, changing the subject as he looked at Sasuke's bare chest.

Sasuke suddenly felt self conscious under Naruto's squinting gaze. He crossed his arms. "I told you they didn't like me."

"Do you think it has anything to do with..."

"What else could it be?"

"Oh."

"It'd be nice if you would share with the class." Aimi said to them, clearly curious about their conversation.

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke told him, hoping that they would just drop the subject. He really didn't need to think about what happened more than necessary. "Hey," Sasuke said forcefully, his voice filled with giddy, catching the other's attention. Something about what they told Naruto about the security system caught his attention. "Can we use chakra?"

"Yes?" Nami asked curiously, leaning towards him in confusion at his sudden happiness.

 _"Yes!"_ Sasuke cheered, not able to keep it inside his thoughts as he rushed to his legs, his hands going through the hand seals as he practically flung himself over to the white haired girl. Removing her hand from the cut that had been annoying him to insanity since he first noticed it as he put his own hand on it, covering it in his red chakra. Leeching on his own chakra, sasuke moved it in urgent, but gentle patterns to heal her wound.

"Hey! Let go!" She shouted in surprise, tugging at her injured arm to get it out of his grip.

"Shut up and stand still," Sasuke hissed, nothing could erase the happiness he felt from finally being able to heal the girls arm. "I'm working."

"You... you're a medical ninja?" She asked in wonder, her eyes glued to his glowing hands as she stopped struggling. "That's amazing. We usually don't let those who knows medial ninjutsu out of the village because of the risk of them dying."

Sasuke had never really believed that the other villages didn't have medical divisions like Konoha had. It honestly seemed ridiculous to send your people into battle, to have them risk their lives without any professional help for injuries. So Sasuke had never really believed it, mostly writing it off as miss information to confuse and divert enemies from their true strength.

But from the awed reactions of those around him, Sasuke had to shift his opinion of the other villages.

They were all idiots.

And he felt that Konoha's hospital, civilian and shinobi alike were very primitive despite some of the pretty advanced stuff they had at the disposal. The hygiene was bad, they had obviously not have had any revolution in the bacteria department. But considering that most medical nin never made it past their twenties, Sasuke found it hard to blame them completely.

The medical program, which was made by the legendary Tsunade Senju, was a major factor in why Konoha was seen as a friendly village. The medical nin were not exclusive to treat the shinobi, but also civilians. Sasuke had helped a lot of civilians in his time at the hospital and could not really image the hospital without the normal people walking around the building.

Sasuke already knew -and had known for a long time- that Konoha was regarded as the softest village out there. It was something that was one of their greatest assets, because the potential clients always picked Konoha first unless they needed an assassin for a rival or enemy.

Sasuke was actually pretty lucky to have ended up in Sasuke 1,1's body instead of some guy in another and more messed up and bloody village.

Like the mist.

That would have been a terrible place.

"They do?" Sasuke replied with a cheeky grin, trying to not preen under the other prisoners awed expressions, except for Jeraru who just raised an eyebrow as he looked unseeingly out into the distance.

The cut closed off, and Sasuke released her arm, letting her gingerly touch her newly healed arm in wonder. "I've never tried this before..."

"How did it feel?" Aimi asked, squinting at her with a serious expression filled with astonishment.

"it's a prickly feeling like when your foot sleeps, a peaceful hum that makes your body relax in content." She described for the boy.

Sasuke blinked at her tone. "You... you're not going to be addicted to healing jutsu, are you?"

It was actually pretty common for the patients to fake an injury, just to feel the sensation of medical ninjutsu. It was actually most common with civilians because the shinobi got injured all the time and didn't have to fake.

"What?" She spluttered, turning to him, her face blazing scarlet. "Why would I do that?"

"It happens a lot in konoha," Sakura explained. "It's actually the reason why the senior staff at the hospital stopped treating civilians unless their condition became critical. There was also passed a law around twenty years ago that made sure that everyone going to the hospital with a fake injury has to pay a fine because of the time they wasted that could have been used better. It doesn't concern psychosomatic illnesses of course."

"The brain of our team ladies and gentlemen." Sasuke stated with a bow towards Sakura who spluttered in embarrassment.

"We need a plan to escape." Naruto said slowly as if he was weighing the words before they could leave his lips.

"You can't be serious," Shiro snapped behind Sasuke glowering at the two male genin from Konoha. "Get it through your thick skulls, there's no escape from this place."

"Trying is better than just sitting and doing nothing!" Naruto snarled at the younger boy, feeling annoyed by his negative attitude.

"We tried!" This time it was Ken who snapped at them, his grey eyes drilling holes in their heads. "You think we would just be sitting here rolling our thumbs without even trying to escape at least _once_?"

"I think I might have a way for us to escape." Sakura said quietly as if she was afraid of rejection.

"And what would that be?" Shiro asked sourly. "Holding our hands to use the power of friendship to teleport us outside?"

Sakura sighed out loud, rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "No," she said in a tone that told Sasuke that she was done with them all. "I don't really how the details, but it seems like I've split my body in some bizarre way. So I'm currently also outside right now, trying to find this place, to save your ungrateful asses," Sasuke blinked at his teammate, not expecting what she just told them. "I'm not crazy, you know. I know how this looks." She added at their disbelieving looks.

"You really are crazy, is that Konoha's secret? All the shinobi are crazy?" Aimi asked, stepping away from Sakura.

Naruto looked enraged and he opened his mouth to shout an angry reply.

"Yup!" Sasuke exclaimed, interrupting Naruto before he could say anything. "We're all walking around going more and more crazy as time goes on."

His blonde teammate gave him a look that said; 'you are luck we're separated, or I'd have smashed your head into the floor.'

"So what do you have planned?" Jeraru asked Sakura.

Sakura seemed to gather some courage at his question. "Well it's only part-"

"-of" Naruto interrupted happily.

"A." Sasuke continued smoothly.

"-plan." Sakura finished as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"You owe me 100." Naruto said to Sasuke who scrunched his nose in displeasure.

Sasuke had made a deal with Naruto that if Sakura ever said that sentence again. Then the one who didn't react fast enough to say it for her first would have to pay up.

"I like you guys." Jeraru laughed as Sasuke frowned when a prickly feeling crawled up his neck.

Sakura groaned, hanging her head, too annoyed to actively hold it up.

"So the plan was for me to-" She stopped, her hands snapping up to her neck, holding it like she was getting choked by the air as she fell down to her knees. Sasuke was forced to follow her action a second later, clawing at his neck, trying to scratch away the feeling of air leaving his lungs. Sasuke faintly heard Naruto shouting Sakura's and his own name as the dark haired boy buckled over, falling to the ground. The sensation of choking and burning began to crawl it's way away from his neck, spreading ever so slowly around his whole body.

A hand suddenly touched his back and Sasuke leaned instinctively away from the touch. "Hey," Jeraru's voice said as the hand found its way to Sasuke's back again, making soothing circles. "It'll be over in a few seconds. It means that they're coming inside, what you're feeling is the seals on our arms forcefully sealing your chakra away so you can't use it to attack get used to it after some time."

"You. are. not. helping." Sasuke grunted in reply, hugging himself like he would hug a stuffed animal.

"I didn't think it would help one bit." The boy replied bluntly.

"I hate . Yo- you now."

"That's unfortunate."

There was a loud clank when the choking sensation lessened, allowing Sasuke to breathe freely again. The metal door scraped against the rock floor loudly as it slowly opened, killing Sasuke's ears like running your nails down a blackboard would. Sasuke looked up when Jeraru dragged his body up again, leaning him against the wall. A squeaky sound of wheels were followed by the appearance of the blonde woman who had been the one to knock Sasuke out. She was pushing a narrowed table on wheels in over the door case, making the bowls standing it two small towers clank loudly. There was also a larger bowl in the middle of it with steam rising up past the plate that was put on top to keep the warmth inside.

"There's dinner in a few minutes," She smiled at them, ignoring Naruto's furious glowering gaze as she smiled beautifully. Sasuke gritted his teeth when she stopped by the empty room and unlocked the door with a large key. "So. Anyone hungry?" She asked, pushing the table inside the cell.

"I am a bit hungry." Nico said shyly, looking down to the floor as she pushed some dirt with her feet.

"That's good, I have a treat for you today." The woman replied as she began dressing the dirty table with the bowls she had brought with her.

"Is it fish?" The young girl said as she looked up again, hope clear in her eyes.

"Yup. I know it's your favourite." The blonde woman smiled, looking down to the girl as she pulled over the large bowl, placing it in the middle.

Shiro growled lowly in the back of his throat when Nico beamed up at the woman in joy. "Fucking idiot," The boy muttered under his breath. "It's always the same with her."

The woman hummed, stepping out of the dining cage, practically dancing over to the cage with Naruto, G and Nico. Inserting her key into the lock she opened the cage and caught the fist Naruto attacked with the moment the door was open enough for him to attack her. "Please don't fight," She smiled sadly and threw the blonde boy back into the cage in a smooth move. Naruto rolled into the far wall with a thud. "It's dinner, not a fighting competition."

Naruto sat up, glaring at the woman, his blue eyes narrowing into slits. Sasuke shrugged when Naruto's eyes found their way to him after having been focused on Sakura for a second.

The blonde woman closed the door again when Naruto went out after G and Nico who walked into the other cage like perfectly obitelent sheep.

Opening the cage with Sakura and Aimi, they repeated the process, except Sakura did not attack the woman like a madman. The blonde stopped after opening Sasuke's cage, glaring at him. "You're staying there." She growled when he began standing up with the others. Sasuke blinked, slumping down against the cold wall again as he held his hands up in surrender. She threw a dirty glance at him, slamming the door after the others had left the cell, looking at Sasuke curiously - probably wondering why he wasn't allowed out.

 _Figures._ He thought in annoyance as he just shrugged, trying to ignore the small knot forming in his stomach.

 _Damit_

* * *

Sakura wasn't really there while they were eating. Her mind somewhere else as her body ate in silence, surrounded by the sounds of the others eating their own portion of the fish like stew.

She ducked under a bush, peering through the vibrant green leaves to spy the brute standing outside the large wooden building. The man was leaning against the wall, not really paying attention to the environment around him. _**Too confident**_ Inner said as they moved back, pulling chakra into their hands as she pulled herself up a three, hiding away in the thick crown.

Her team's trail leaded inside the building, they were a bit blurred out, but they were definitely inside that one building.

"So," Sasuke said from his place of exile when Mai-san finally left them alone, locking the captured genin inside the cage to eat their food in peace. "What's the plan?"

Sakura blinked, not expecting the question. "What?"

"The plan?" He said again, rising to his feet in a smooth motion. He walked over to the bars, gripping them as he leaned towards them. The others stopped eating, looking at her with curious multicolored eyes.

"Oh right," They said and put her bowl down on the filthy cover, wiping her mouth. "You remember the path picker jutsu? Bad question - of course you do. We're currently using it to track down this place so I can bust us out."

"That's a terrible plan since you're kinda stuck here with us... hell even Jeraru can probably see that, and he's blind." Aimi said, waving a hand in front of the boy's face.

The blue haired boy scowled, not seeing the hand as he made a fake laugh. "Very funny."

"She said 'we,'" Shiro said, putting his empty bowl down. "does that mean you really have a clone outside?"

"kinda," Sakura replied. "We've already found this place so I just need some plan to how we'd get us out. I'll explain later." She said at Naruto confused look.

 _ **Not that**_ **we** _ **know what's going on.**_ Inner muttered in her head.

 _True._

"Mai-san or Mizi usually has the keys, if you can get them then we'd be set," Nami told her. "But they're Chunin level and Kazuki is Jounin, not to mention all the bandits they've hired so it's impossible. That's why we're not even bound, because we can beat them without chakra."

"Our best bet is to wait till they decide to sell us and then escape," Aimi said. "That's our plan anyway."

"I don't get you guys," Nico inserted, finishing her food with a sigh. "Why do you want to escape? This is nice, we get food and clothes without having to work for it. It's not all that bad."

"Riiight," Shiro drawled as he pushed his bowl away and leaned over the table to look at Sakura better. "They have a room where they store keys, it's where they put the armbands on us. I can't exactly remember _where_ it was, but I'm sure it was close to the entrance." He added, lifting his arm to show her the chakra restrictor.

 _ **The seals!**_ Inner screeched.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked after inner reminded her of the seals that was blocking her chakra control. "What do you think about the seals? Can you make sense of them?"

"No," Naruto sulked, looking at his chakra suppressor. "I don't recognise any of the symbols. There's nothing that gives away how they work. It too advanced for me."

"Kakashi!" Sasuke exclaimed quietly from his isolation. "You can track him down, they might have brought him here too and the path picker can remember all willing signatures over a period of time."

"I am tracking him, he's here too, but I can't get his precise location. It's more of a cloud," Sakura said as she shook her head. She took a deep breath looking at the others. "When I get the key, are you willing to help?"

"If your plan works." G said quietly.

"It will work, and nothing would really change if it didn't. We'd still be trapped." Sasuke replied for her.

"Nothing to lose, huh?" G murmured running his spoon along the edge of his bowl.

"What do you do when you have to pee?" Naruto suddenly asked, ruining the tense atmosphere. "What? I'm serious. It's been bugging me, how do you get out when you really need to go?" the blonde added at their looks.

"We wait." Shiro snapped in disgust.

"But what if you _really_ have to go?"

Shiro breathed deeply with his nose, closing his eyes as his hands twitched to throw the bowl by his hands at Sakura's teammate.

"So when do we begin?" Nami asked, changing the subject with a smile, her red eyes brimming with hope.

"Now. I just need you guys to take care of my body." Sakura replied.

"...Your body?" Sasuke asked, inserting his own question.

"I'll explain later." Sakura sighed.

"I guess we can so that?" Nico said with a sad smile, no doubt sad because of the plan.

That girl was weird.

The sound of the metal door being unlocked caught the genins attention. "That's kinda early..." Aimi muttered. "We usually have around an hour or two."

A large man with mooning hair and sideburns pushed the door open with a malicious grin, his eyes running over the genin before settling on Sasuke who raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hi?"

"You don't look like much," the man commented, scratching his neck. Sasuke dubbed him Moony inside his mind.

"Who are you?" Nico asked in a snappy tone. "Only Mai-san, Senri-san, Mizi-san and Kazuki-san is allowed in here."

"Don't worry little girl," Moony sneered nastily, holding up a key. He shook the key and gestured to Sasuke. "Mizi sent me to get this little piece of shit."

"Why would you need him? He's an idiot." Shiro asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Gee thanks..." Sasuke replied dryly.

"It doesn't concern you kids," The man said and turned to Sasuke with a forceful look as he put the key inside the lock, opening the cage with a crank. "Get up."

"You know I had a dream once," Sasuke commented as he stood up, giving Sakura a meaningful look. He winked once. "There was this guy with a key and then my friend hunted _me_ down to get the key. It was very weird, and kinda scary too."

 _ **Ohhh!**_ Inner purred inside Sakura's mind. _**Sasuke-kun's badly hidden secret messages!**_

"I don't care about your dreams." The man snarled, roughly shoving Sasuke out the cage.

"Hey!" Naruto growled. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I can walk myself." Sasuke winced when Moony gripped the dark haired boys arm painfully, ignoring Naruto.

"Don't even think about doing anything." The man growled, dragging Sasuke out of the room. The man looked at the genin currently trapped inside the cage before slamming the door shut, blocking Sasuke from view.

"Damit!" Naruto growled, slamming a fist into the table, making the bowls jump. Spilling the remaining food onto the table and scarring the genin. "That bastard! Now we have to save him! Secret messages my ass! He made it even more difficult for you by pissing them off!"

"You should get the keys or your jounin sensei first," Jeraru said, turning their attention to him. "Chances are that even if you find Sasuke first, you won't be able to help. Getting your sensei first would be smartest Especially now that they have a hostage. Getting us out is the second best choice, but we have the disadvantage of being too emotional."

"We can't just abandon him!" Naruto countered. "Who knows what they'll do to him!"

"I'm not saying to abandon him, just to play it smart."

"What did he do to piss them off in the first place?" Aimi asked. "Kick their dog?"

"Let's just start the plan," Naruto evaded _masterly_ , focusing on Sakura with nodd. "We're counting on you here Sakura, we won't judge you if it doesn't work. Our team has never been in a situation like this, but like Sasuke would say; first time for everything."

Sakura swallowed, a gentle smile gracing her lips. "You're right."

* * *

"Hey Senri," Mai said with a sad smile as she looked at the large stone with Senri's name carved into the hard rock. Behind the gravestone was the man's grave, he was buried under earth and a cover of large stones on top so people would know not to dig in that place. "We got the last batch of genin and Kazuki is out getting Gato to send him men to receive the kids. We'll have the money now, just a few more days and then we'll be able to pay. Isn't that good?"

The stone didn't reply.

"I think I'll just sit here for a while. The kids probably won't mind if I'm a few hours late..."

* * *

Letting her mind go, Sakura 'entered' the other body. _**He's still there,**_ Inner informed her gleefully and a grin made its way to her mouth without her consent. _**He hasn't even noticed us. Moron.**_

Sakura took the scroll with her bow inside from her pouch, unsealing it and her archery gear from the sealing matrix with a small sliver of chakra. She slung the quiver over her shoulder and strapped on her arm guard, followed by her glove. She withdrew one of the arrows. Peering down from the tree Sakura took a deep breath as she got the man into her vision.

She only had one chance at shooting the man. If she missed then everyone in the building would be alerted to her position and the whole plan would break apart into crumbling pieces.

She just needed to shoot the man in the right place so that he wouldn't be able to scream or call for help. He needed to die instantly, without any prior warning.

And then everything would be _fine_.

She would get her team out, the other genin out. And then everything would be _fine._

 _Fine_.

Everything would be _fine_.

 _ **...Sakura stop being afraid, there nothing to worry about.**_ Inner comforted and pushed gently on Sakura's conciseness like a comforting pat on the back or a hug. She didn't know that inner could do something like that.

Sakura was going to have to shoot the man guarding the wooden building. She would have to kill him, but she couldn't get herself to lift the bow which suddenly weighed more than she could carry.

Her hands shook as she slowly nocked the arrow and a shaky breath came out of her throat as she tried to lift the bow without success.

 _We can just find another way in._ Sakura reasoned. _There has to be._

 _ **You know we can't. There's only one way in and we're looking at it.**_

 _I'll just.._. Sakura thought as her shaking hands tried to lift the bow again. _I can't!_ She cried out to inner inside her mind, her body dropping down on the thick branch.

 _ **I'll do it.**_ Inner told her, laying a gentle pressure on Sakura's mind like a blanket engulfing her.

 _But-_

 _ **I'll do it.**_ She said a bit more forcefully when sakura started to protest.

 _Thank you._ Sakura breathed easily, grateful for inners sacrifice. The gentle blanket on Sakura's mind began pushing her and before she knew it Sakura was watching her body move up to its feet like she was watching a movie.

Inner had complete control of Sakura's body as she finally nocked the arrow after determining her goal. Rising the bow, Inner grinned cheekily. _**You know what I want when we're done?**_ She asked, watching the target intensely.

 _No?_ Sakura asked and blinked, could she even blink inside her mind? _My voice sounds different._

 _ **Welcome to being on the sidelines club, we have free cookies.**_ Inner congratulated happily, drawing back the sting she aimed for the man's head. She pulled some elemental chakra into the arrow and it became hot in her grip. Inner smirked and Sakura closed her eyes, happy to discover that she could block her vision. "I want a name." Inner whispered followed Immediately by the twang of the arrow being released.

Sakura pretend not to hear the following sound of someone's skull getting pierced by an arrow flying at them at high speed.

* * *

"Get in." The man said as he roughly shoved Sasuke in a large room. The room looked the same as the dungeon he had been taken out off, just more lived in. It had old pieces of furniture along the walls and directly in front of Sasuke was a lone chair and behind it, on a bed sat the white haired man Mizi. He had a thick bandage clumsily wrapped around his leg. On the sides of Mizi was a few bulky men, looking like guards as they stood in the dim light.

The bulky man Sasuke dubbed Moony gave him a push, making Sasuke stumble over to the lone chair in the middle of the room. "Sit down." Mizi barked harshly and Sasuke placed himself on the chair as swiftly as possible and tried to make himself as small as his body would allow.

The man looked at Sasuke, his eyes as thin as needles as he observed the boy. Mizi put a hand behind him and withdrew his sword from the bed, unsheathing it in a smooth motion. He pointed the sharp edge at Sasuke's throat. Sasuke swallowed as a drop of sweat slid down his face. "Now listen here you little rat," the man said. "You are going to heal this arrow wound your pink haired friend made."

"Wait," sasuke interrupted, not daring to move an inch as he let his words move for him. "Why should I even help you? My friends are captured and you expect me to fix you up?"

 _Like hell I'm healing him, Sakura's plan will be easier without this guy in the picture._ Sasuke thought. _And he's not allowed to kill me, so I'll be fine._

Moony suddenly groped a fist full of Sasuke's hair, pulling his head back as he punched Sasuke in his cheek. "Don't talk to Mizi-sama like that!" The man barked, letting Sasuke go again.

 _That hurt a lot..._ Sasuke stayed silent, instinctively putting a hand to his face to rub the bruising. Sasuke was being to get the feeling that he _wasn't_ going to get out of his in a good condition, alive, but he would probably not be having the time of his life. He needed to be careful not to say anything that might set that guy off the wrong end.

"No," Mizi admitted as he put his sword away, but not before leaving a swift cut on Sasuke's other cheek. "I didn't expect you to just do it, you are the one who brutally murdered Senri, by brother in all but blood. I don't expect someone like you to understand something like that anyway."

 _Well there went the 'don't send this guy over the edge plan...' he's already far past the line of no return._ Sasuke slapped his other hand on the cut, probably looking ridiculous as he sat there with a hand on each cheek. He narrowed his eyes at the man's little speech. "Wait you're saying that _I'm_ a murderer for defending my teammate? From where I was it really looked like _he_ was going to murder my friends. How did you people _expect_ other people to react when you swing a giant ass sword at them?" Sasuke could not believe this guy, did he really expect them to just stand there and let them hit without doing _anything_? Well Naruto and Sakura did kinda just stand there. Maybe that was why they only sent one person after them? Because they predicted that they would be too scared to even move? What kind of morons would think that?

"Be silent!" Mizi growled, a hand gripping the sword again. "You will heal me, Kazuki is out to meet his client so there's no one here to tell us what we can't do with you kids."

Sasuke shuddered at the man's words and decided to stay silent, refusing to give in. Maybe he could stall them until Sakura could get him or the others out. It would definitely make it easier with all the guys in the room to sneak in when they weren't out guarding - or whatever their purpose were.

Moony kicked at the chair to get a reaction out of sasuke, who remained silent as he glared at the white haired man. "Mizi-sama I don't think he's going to heal you."

"Don't worry Ao, we have ways of getting people to do what we want." Mizi said as he stood up, his movement stiff from the pain. He drew his sword again, holding it to Sasuke's left eye.

The Uchiha boy reared back, trying to get his face away from the sword. "Uhhh... Please don't hurt me?" He tried to negotiate, glancing around for any means of escape. _Relax Sasuke, you won't die..._ He reasoned with himself.

 _ **Ha! Everything you ever think about is dying! There's other ways to die then just the normal and boring way!**_ Mister Shadow suddenly laughed in his head, making Sasuke twitch in surprise.

 _Where the hell have you been?_ The physically twelve year old boy demand. Mister Shadow had been gone since the mission first began and Sasuke had been put off by his disappearance, because of the constant (annoying) presence he had been.

 _ **I was having a party, scrambling all your brain cells around.**_ Mister Shadow grinned, a laugh ringing through Sasuke's head.

 _Am I'm going to go crazy because of it?_

Mizi leaned forwards, -reminding Sasuke of his situation- his face centimeters away from Sasuke's own face as he removed the sword again. "You can call this punishment for your crimes." He growled darkly as Sasuke felt his mouth go dry.

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter: Inner_**

* * *

 **Silly Extra: or is it omake? idk what its called.**

"I can't believe this!" Naruto snarled, kicking a pebble down the strangely empty road. " _That's_ a D rank!? Getting stupid groceries for an old lady?"

"You're not the only one disappointed." Sakura said, growling. She could not believe it, she hadn't spend half her life to get an old lady her food from a store across the street. She had trained to protect her friends and family.

The missions were chores, nothing more. Civilians could do those missions.

Sasuke-kum giggled besides them, a jump in his feet. "She was kinda creepy, don't you think?" He asked in a too cheerful voice. "Even pinched my cheeks..." Sasuke muttered, his cheer bleeding away as he rubbed his cheek.

"Ha!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Sasuke-kun in victory. "She didn't pinch my cheeks! That's what you get for being so popular!"

Sakura's hand twitched with the want to hit Naruto over the head, but she resisted. _**I'm proud of us...**_ Inner said in delight when Sakura's hand stayed at her side.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"Yes! It is."

"It's not a very good one, is it?" Sasuke-kun asked lightly, grinning from ear to ear.

"Shut up! It was awesome!"

"Sur-" Sasuke froze, his face paling as his up turned mouth began tilting down, gaping as a purple haired woman appeared behind him, leaning on his shoulders with a few scattered leaves. She was wearing practically nothing!

 _ **Get Awww way from Sasuke-kun! You bitch!**_ Inner roared.

"Sasuke-kun, I need my fix." The scantily clad woman purred, leaning into the frozen boy.

Naruto blushed red. "Who are you!?" He demanded loudly, his voice shaking a bit.

"Anko-san," Sasuke said his face tuning annoyed as he gritted out the 'San.' Before the woman could say anything. "Not today."

"Awww..." She whispered, releasing Sasuke with a pout.

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch as she really tried, with all her willpower not to jump the woman.

"Who the hell are you!?" Naruto repeated, getting agitated as the woman continued to ignore him.

"But Rukia invited me," Anko continued sulking. "She sent me to get your small teammates so we could have a nice family dinner. But I guess your friends will have to starve and never taste your heavenly food."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Are you trying to guilt trip me?"

"Of course not," She replied pleasantly before finally addressing Naruto who looked close to exploding. "Don't you want to taste Sasuke's food too?"

"What?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head.

"Sasuke makes some of the best things you'll ever get on your taste buds." She purred, closing in on Naruto who got a deer in the headlights look on his face.

"Only because you're not used to it. It's not _that_ good." Sasuke muttered.

"But it's soo good!" She whispered, throwing an arm around the blonde. Anko looked over at Sakura and the pink haired girl only had a second to think before she was in the woman's strong arms. "Don't you want to taste it too?" She asked.

"I-I don't- what?"

"Fine!" Sasuke growled loudly, throwing his hands up into the air in displeasure. "I'll make the stupid food!"

"Yes!" Anko celebrated happily, jumping away from Sakura and Naruto. "Is tried to find your boyfriend, but it seems like he went up in air."

"What!?" Sakura's brain exploded somewhere in the distance... again. It seemed that exploding brains were becoming a very frequent occurrence in her daily life.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sasuke growled, turning away as he began walking in a different direction."Dammit people! It was a joke!"

 _ **Breathe Sakura**_... Inner soothed.

"Where are you going?" Anko grinned, following the enraged boy.

"To my kitchen so I can play slaves for crazy women."

"Come on brats. Sasuke is making us food!" Anko continued as she turned around and put a hand on Sakura and Naruto's shoulders, pushing them after Sasuke.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **The names for Inner… I already have Aurora and Yuuka on the table. But I'd love to hear (it's actually** _ **read**_ **, but** _ **hear**_ **sounds better) if you people have any suggestions.**

 **Is this an exciting cliffhanger? I certainly hope so.**

 **I may or may not have been in a bad mood when I wrote the notes for this arcs events several months ago. I have to admit that it's kinda dark, but I've already changed a lot from the original notes. Mainly because I suck at writing angst.**

 **Why so angsty Sakura and Sasuke?**

 **I am no expert in Japanese and the different name meanings can be wrong.**

 **-Kenjo Catze**

* * *

 **Answer review thing:**

 _ **Please try to review in English- or if you can Danish because I can't read other languages. Other than a bit of German.**_

Sophiebybophie: _Thanks! :D (idk what more to say sorry)_

DarkDusk27: _I'm happy that you didn't expect what happened! (it was totally not what I was going for)_

Eliana34: Sorry but I don't understand French (that's what's the translator said it was.) but thanks for the confusing comments I think was meant to convey that you didn't like the direction I've gone with the story? I can unfortunately not change how the story is playing out and most of the things in it, has something that will play a role in like 5-20 chapters in the future.


	13. Chapter 13: Inner

_I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd have an idea what to put here._

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Inner**

* * *

"I want a name." Inner whispered followed Immediately by the twang of the arrow being released.

Sakura pretend not to hear the following sound of someone's skull getting pierced by an arrow flying at them at high speed.

* * *

Inner breathed out a sigh as she lowered the bow and took a moment to admire her masterpiece in silence. She felt strangely happy as she gazed upon the life's body of a man she had just killed.

She had hit the bull's eye, well she didn't exactly hit his eye but that didn't matter.

Jumping down the tree in one jump, she looked at the bulky man, his face morphed in horror as his brown eyes pointed in the direction she had shot him from. He had seen the arrow just before it killed him in a relatively painless death by simply going through his forehead. He had not expected it and that was the advantage of using a bow, no one expected it.

 _ **Keep your eyes closed**_. She commanded Sakura, knowing that she would make it more difficult for Inner to get Kakashi-sensei out if she would have to deal with Sakura's emotions flooding her own mind. It had already been hard enough to stay calm when the only thing she could feel was Sakura's terrified emotions smashing against her like a tsunami.

 _...alright._ Sakura agreed.

Inner sealed the bow into the scroll, keeping it easily accessible so she could get it quickly if she needed to. Grabbing the man's arms in a strong hold, Inner dragged him up behind the tree she had stood in when she killed him. Stretching her back, Inner walked back over to the door.

 _ **I'll need your help now.**_ She told Sakura and gave the controls of the body back to the original girl with a small shove on her mind.

Sakura looked around after hesitantly opening her eyes, checking for anyone who might have seen what Inner did. _What do you need help with?_ She asked, not really wanting to be at the body's steering wheel.

 _ **A genjutsu to make us look like him, can you do that?**_

 _Yeah, sure. I- I can do that._ Sakura confirmed, making a few hand seals as her outwards appearance changed in a certain range from her.

Inner was pushed back out to control the body almost panicky as Sakura retreated inside their mind. She sighed, testing the door handle to see if it was locked. It wasn't.

Entering the building, Inner was surprised to see the stone walls of the dungeon the others were in. The whole building must have been build in stone and then layered with wooden planks on the outside. Moving through the twisting and dimly lit hallways Inner searched around for Kakashi-sensei's presence. She walked past a few other men who glanced at her but continued to do whatever they were doing after she left their sight. She finally stopped by a set of stairs running down under ground, the end just barely visible and another going up.

She could feel Naruto and Kakashi-sensei's footprints down on the floor beneath her while Sasuke-kun's was above her.

Resisting Sakura's obvious desire to go after Sasuke first despite the plan they had made with the blue haired boy, Inner turned and walked down the stairs. She slid her hands on the rail, frowning at the dust sticking to her hands when she looked at it. Walking down a few more hallways Inner continued to follow Kakashi-sensei's cloud. She stooped by the corner of two halls forming a T and glanced along the disgusting walls to where two men was standing around a metal door, guarding it. There was also a door on the other side, but Inner would bet that they were guarding Kakashi.

 _ **Here we go.**_ She thought, trying to look intimidating as she walked down to the two men. "Mizi-sama needs something from the Jounin." She growled.

The two looked unconvinced. "And he didn't give you a key?" The shorter of the two asked, scowling at her.

"Everyone knows that we're not allowed to play with the prisoners. Good try, but we're not falling for something we've heard a million times." The taller one sneered, taking a step towards her.

 _They're onto us!_ Sakura panicked.

 _ **Calm down! They aren't suspecting anything that will get us caught!**_

"Really?" She asked, purring all the hate for the situation into her words. "I don't have a key because Mizi-sama is busy with that murderous brat. Do you think he'd have time for something as trivial as giving me a key?"

"Umm..." the shorter one said nervously. "I think we should just let him inside. I don't want to get on Mizi-samas bad side after he lost Senri."

"Call us when you need to get out again." The tall one grunted, taking a key from the bundle on his belt, unlocking the door with a loud clank. _**So he's the one with the key...**_. He pushed on the metal plate working as the door, letting Inner see the contents of the room that was not all that different from the room with the genin. The room was empty except for Kakashi-sensei who was lying on his stomach, fast asleep. She stepped in and the two guys outside, dragged the door back in place with visible stain.

 _ **That's a very heavy door...**_

 _I agree._

 _It worked! It freaking worked!_ Sakura cheered as Inner crouched by the silver haired man, shaking his shoulder slightly.

He was not looking good, his face had a grey hue, giving her the impression they might have drugged the Jounin with something more powerful than they did to Sakura and her team. The bags under his eyes was like the icing on the cake in completing the look of death surrounding him.

He was also wearing the mask. So many missed opportunities.

"Kakashi-sensei. Wake up," She whispered. "It's me Sakura." She didn't really want to deal with the confusion of calling herself Inner, and it would probably not end well if Kakashi-sensei though she was an enemy.

The Jounins eye popped open after a few seconds, his silver eye going up to her eyes hidden in a genjutsu. "Sakura?" He rasped.

"Yeah, it's me."

Kakashi sat up, blinking in the dim light. "What's happening?" He whispered, his voice somehow back to normal, not showing any of the strain it had a few seconds ago.

"Short version: We were kidnapped," Inner whispered. "Naruto and a few other genin are on this floor while Sasuke-kun is two above us, we decided to get you out first. Are you good enough to help?"

"Of course," Kakashi told her, sounding slightly offended by the notion that he would be unable to help. "What do you need me for?" He asked, letting her lead.

"First," she replied with a small smirk as she stood up and knocked on the metal door with her index finger. "I need you to knock out the two people behind this door when they're going to open it again."

"I can do that." Kakashi confirmed, glancing briefly at his wrist that had the chakra sealing armband.

"I'm done." Inner said loudly and glanced at the Jounin who stood up, rolling her eyes when he took a way too shaky breath for someone who was 'fine.'

One of the men grunted from behind the door and she heard them unlocking the door. Waiting for them to push the door up, she glanced back at Sakura's sensei who disappeared from her sight the moment she stepped away from the opening door. His disappearance was followed by the sound of a body smashing into a wall and a man flew past her nose when she began to look out to see what he was doing. Jumping back in surprise, Sakura was greeted with a panting jounin who held up a key, his eyes curving into the upturned U that signaled a smile. "So?" He asked breathlessly.

"Score!" Inner cheered, jumping in to hug the man. _**Let's get them all out!**_ She exclaimed pushing Sakura back into the body as she retreated back into the back of Sakuras mind, enjoying Sakura's reaction as she jumped away in panic, a giant blush coloring her entire face red.

 _Damit Inner!_

* * *

Kakashi opened his eye just a little bit when a light set of footsteps echoed outside the damp and badly smelling room he was inside. Kakashi had woken up a few hours ago, feeling like death had hugged him into his rotten chest.

"Mizi-sama needs something from the Jounin." A gruff voice growled impatiently, making Kakashi confused. What did the men who staged the whole mission to capture them want? From what he could get from the two, a woman with a slight limp in her left leg and the man who obviously originated from Kumo before the man posing as a client somehow got behind him. Kakashi had only noticed the man after he had stung him with something containing some instantaneouspoison, and Kakashi had gone down in a few seconds flat.

And he had promised Sakura to keep the team safe.

The door opened after a noise Kakashi could have lived without, scraping its bottom along the ground, making a loud deafening noise. A person who smelled like Sakura walked in, the footsteps light. Then it closed again, scraping again, continuing to kill his sensitive ears. Kakashi felt his anger spike.

The person who smelled like Sakura walked over to him, pausing just before his fake sleeping form. Kakashi cleared his mind, using his nose and ears to get the exact position of the person when he - she? Crouched by him. The silver haired man prepared his muscles for attack when the person began talking.

"Kakashi-sensei. Wake up," the gruff voice whispered to him in strangely soft tones. "It's me Sakura."

Kakashi did a double take. _Sakura?_ He thought in confusion, how could she have escaped? The one who faked his request had snuck up on _him_ , so how could she have escaped? He opened his eye, clearing the fogginess with a quick blink as he focused on the distinctively male face staring worriedly at him.

"Sakura?" He rasped, mentally beating himself up for showing any weakness towards one of his cute genin.

"Yeah, it's me." The face smiled slightly, just a little twitch in clear relief.

"What's happening?" Kakashi asked, his voice sounding normal again as he sat up, holding his heavy torso up with his arms.

"Short version: We were kidnapped," Sakura whispered to him, her pink hair fling down in front of her face. She didn't seem to notice. "Naruto and a few other genin are on this floor while Sasuke-kun is two above us, we decided to get you out first. Are you good enough to help?"

"Of course," Kakashi told her, slightly offended that she thought she had to ask him if he could help. Didn't she hear his admittedly awesome speech about not letting his comrades die? He would have helped even if he was missing an arm. "What do you need me for?" He asked her, wanting to see what kind of plan his team had cooked together.

"First," she replied with a small satisfied smirk as she stood up and rapped on the metal door with her index finger three times. "I need you to knock out the two people behind this door when they're going to open it again. The tall one of them has the key we need."

"I can do that." Kakashi told her and glanced at the armband around his arm, it was blocking his chakra. Normally he would have said that it was seals, bit he didn't recognise a single of the symbols, they were completely alien to him. He had been privileged to look at a few Uzumaki seals before and those types of sealing had at least _some_ likeness to what they used in konoha and the other nations. (Because they usually learned sealing by stealing from Konoha)

"I'm done." Sakura stated loudly as Kakashi pulled himself up on his feet, taking a chopped breath when he moved his stiff body.

 _I saw that eye roll!_

A loud clank came from the door, making Kakashi vince. His ears were getting a lot of abuse lately. Pushing the annoying ringing back into the back of his mind, Kakashi narrowed his calculating eyes at the slowly opening door. Sakura glanced back at him when the opening was finally big enough and Kakashi used his physical strength to slip through the opening. Gripping the arm of the shorter of the two, Kakashi slammed him into the stone wall, cracking the large rocks under the pressure. Turning to the surprised taller one, Kakashi grabbed his face in a strong hold. Jerking his hand, Kakashi made the man lose his balance and Kakashi swiped the key hanging from a chain on his belt from him in a quick swipe before kicking the man though the door opening.

Looking at Sakura's stunned face - she must have dropped the genjutsu, Kakashi couldn't help himself and smiled with his eye. "So?" He asked, out of breath.

"Score!" Sakura cried, jumping at Kakashi, hugging him in happiness.

Genin were cute sometimes, especially when they did things on impulse, only to get embarrassed afterwards. Like Sakura who jumped away from him again, slapping both of her hands to her beat read face.

"I-I'm so-so sorry Kakashi-sensei!" She spluttered, turning away from him as she stepped on the spot, her knees rubbing against each other nervously.

Kakashi smiled, holding up a calming hand. "Maaa... it's no problem. Sasuke does it all the time anyway."

Sakura nodded hastily, a thoughtful look on her face. "We need to get going, the others are just around the corner."

Kakashi followed his student, immediately impressed how she kept a calm face as she guided him through the twisting hallways. Kakashi took a sniff of the air, smelling Naruto and _Sakura_? Together with a few different smells two female and four male. How could Sakura's scent be further down the hall and besides him at once? Clones didn't have the same smell as the original despite the obvious similarity. Maybe it was a genjutsu meant to get information out of him by making him believe he was talking to his student?

Not even twins had the same smell.

His eyes narrowed when 'Sakura' stopped by the door with all the different scents inside. He should play it smart and see where the situation was going, because regardless of Sakura being who she said was she still brought him to his other student.

Putting the key in the unguarded door (it was nice to know they thought of him as more of a treat) Sakura helped him push open the door.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed in happiness, jumping to the bars of the cell he was inside.

"Calm down Naruto, you're going to alert the whole building to us." He soothed with a smile, looking over the other genin inside the cage. There were six in total, just like his nose had told him before reaching the holding area. The thing he was most interested in was the sleeping form of Sakura, resting against the wall with a sink.

Unlocking the door to the genins cell, Kakashi was tackled by Naruto, bringing them both to the cold floor when Kakashi wasn't strong enough in his weakened state to hold himself up against the force of the blondes weight. "It's good to see you too." He smiled.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei! I'm sorry!" Naruto blabbered as he jumped up away from Kakashi, letting the Jounin breath and stand up again. Sakura took the time to go over to the other her, staring intensely at the others sleeping face.

"Your sensei is _Hatake Kakashi!?_ " The white haired boy breathed out, a flash of fear went through the eyes of the of the three who had obvious descent in kumo. So even genin in kumo knew of him? Kakashi didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. "You didn't say your sensei was _Hatake Kakashi_!"

"Maaa," Kakashi said gently. "I'm sure the rumors about be are exaggerated."

The boy's eyes narrowed. "They say you became a Jounin at twelve, that you're the one who was ordered to eliminate the village of Kana. They also say that you have one of the most powerful assassination justus in existence _and_ that you've copied over a thousand jutsus." The boy fired bravely.

"Well, the rumors has clearly gone way past myself, missing the truth by a few kilometres. I'm actually quite nice if I have to say so myself." Kakashi told them with a smile. _How does Kumo genin know about Kana!? The mission was supposed to be top secret and I even used dye in my hair just in case._

 _Could it be that there's more traitors in Konoha than just Mi - something who tried to get the scroll of seals?_

"It worked!" Sakura cheered, high fiving the clone of herself.

"Of course it did we're geniuses after all, it's only natural." The one who had helped Kakashi escape smirked in satisfaction.

" _Wow_ ," one of the youngest genin said, blinking at Sakura and her clone. "You weren't kidding when you said you had a clone."

"What did I tell you? Sakura-chan is amazing." Naruto praised.

 _Don't tell me they're..._

"How could I believe such a crazy story like the one she gave us?" The boy countered as the other genin continued to talk among themselves, going over various topics not related to the situation. Kakashi felt his eyes twitch.

 _Yep, they are._

"But helped us make the plan!"

 _They're small talking._ Talking about random things while one of their own where missing, it was so typical of genin to forget the important things - like rescuing the last Uchiha inside the village - when they felt safe.

It was good to get some rest - especially when you felt like you were at death's door. But now was really not the time.

"Of course I did, there were still the possibility that she _wasn't_ insane."

"Can we talk more later?" Kakashi interrupted the genin politely, finally making the genin stop talking. The silver haired man turned to his female student and her clone. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Ah! SASUKE! I completely forgot about him!" Naruto shouted, jumping over to the door. He stopped , tilting his head as he turned to Kakashi. "Where is he?"

"I'll show you." Sakura said and the one still dressed in her normal clothes jumped to her feet, helping the other up as Kakashi faintly caught a foreign scent.

Turning around before he had much time to think about it, Kakashi grabbed the blonde boy's collar and threw Naruto back from the door as a sword came down in the opening in the place Naruto had been. "We're not supposed to kill them! Try to aim in a non lethal place next time!" A voice snapped.

The man looked ashamed for a second before Kakashi snatched the sword from his hands, cutting into his ribs in one smooth move. "Sakura! Come on! We need to get Sasuke!" Kakashi commanded, jumping through the door to stab the man he assumed where the one who shouted at the man with the sword though his head. Kakashi wrenched the sword free from his skull and gripped the door frame, panting with exhaustion. He was definitely not having a good day.

"We'll protect your back," Naruto said, his blue eyes gleaming with a familiar look. "Right?" He asked, looking around the other genin, daring them to refuse.

They all nodded except for the blind one with blue hair who shrugged.

"Let's get going then." The Sakura with her normal clothes said as she unsealed her bow and began to lead them through the many corridors.

Kakashi had only followed bow-Sakura for a few turns when a loud alarm suddenly went off, scaring all the genin running with him as they followed Sakura's lead. They all stopped, looking around in alarm at the noise, it finally stopped it's constant ringing and the group began moving again.

"Hey! They're over here!" A man who rounded a corner in front of them shouted, pointing at them with his sweaty finger. Several men followed the one man, shouting war cries when they charged with swords, axes and was one of them holding chopsticks?

Kakashi sighed, readying himself to get into combat again as he watched the cannon fodder run at them. The silver haired man was surprised to see Naruto run past Sakura and himself, kicking the first man to reach them in his face. The men behind him faltered when Naruto launched himself at the next person, landing on the man, Naruto turned around. "You helping or not!? Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei needs to find Sasuke quickly!"

Then ever so slowly, Kakashi, the blind boy and the two Sakura's began losing the genin who stayed behind to fight the untrained bandits that popped up now and then to stop them from escaping and getting to Sasuke. The small girl with dark hair and the boy around her age had stayed with Naruto while the three from Kumo broke off one at a time.

They had just arrived at the end of the stairs to the first floor when the blue haired boy held his arm out. "Someone's coming from the right." He whispered.

Kakashi frowned, stopping. "How do you know?" Sakura-without bow asked mirroring Kakashi frown hidden under his mask. The other Sakura raised her bow instead, pointing it in the direction the boy told them about.

"His footsteps," The boy said as he pointed down the corridor. Kakashi frowned when his ears picked up a faint patter of footsteps. "He's what 30 meters away?"

Kakashi nodded, the man's lone footsteps were too loud to be Sasuke's so it was a hostile. Sakura drew back on the string when she finally heard the steps. The man had only gotten a few seconds to look at them before Sakura released her arrow, grazing the side of his head, drawing blood as it pierced into the wall. It wasn't enough to kill the man, but it knocked him flat on his back, unconscious.

The Sakura dressed in rags swallowed and pointed down to the right, past the unconscious man as she began to sneak past him. "It's this way."

They- meaning Sakura and Naruto - may not have told Kakashi everything about their situation but Kakashi most certainly recognized the situation instantly after being left out of the room. Slavery. Slavery was illegal in the five main shinobi nations while some of the smaller ones still upheld the ancient and inhumane traditions. It certainly wasn't Kakashi's first encounter with the infamous trade either, there had been plenty of missions in ANBU concerning people - sometimes whole towns - who had been kidnapped inside the countries where it was outlawed. He had quite regularly requested to be part of the units that raided auctions houses and the bases where slaves were kept.

One of the most prominent things about the bases was that five out of ten all looked alike, stone walls with chakra draining bars inside and wooden planks to hide the base as a house in the woods. Kakashi would bet his hand on that the base they were in had a wooden cover.

The chakra blocking armbands where a new thing though.

So Kakashi, having seen how most slavers treated the 'slaves' they had taken - despite the surprisingly good care, the children had received while being in the large stone structure - stabbed the sword into the unconscious man's neck, before continuing after the genin who - except for the blind boy who just turned his head slightly, but ignored it - didn't notice the kill he just made.

"Here." Sakura whispered after a while without meeting anyone as she stopped by two doors, one on each side of the hall. The pink haired girl still in her normal clothes turned to the door on the right as she nocked an arrow while the other placed a hand on the door handle. They both looked at Kakashi who nodded shortly, getting in a position where he could look inside the room without imparting Bow-Sakura's ability to shoot inside the room if it was necessary.

Sakura twisted the handle as carefully as humanly possible and winced when the door gave a soft 'click.' Then she pulled hard, jerking the door open and letting it slam against the wall.

Something black shifted at the edge of Kakashi's vision and the Sakura-without a bow screamed.

* * *

"You helping or not!? Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei needs to find Sasuke quickly!" Naruto snarled at the genin behind his sensei and teammates - or was it one because they were both Sakura?

Turning, Naruto kicked at another person head, wincing at the spark of fear from the man. The blonde turned around to hit another in the gut, but the large man was kicked away by that irritating Shiro. The dark haired boy smirked at him, smugness flying of him like leaves in a storm. "Behind you."

In the corner of his eye Naruto saw the group beginning to leave as he swung himself around to look for the enemy. It wasn't an enemy, it was Nico who was standing on the stomach of one of the unconscious men.

Nico nodded at him and the three sprung into action, punching, kicking, jumping, tackling and tripping the men until they were the only ones left conscious. Naruto had not come out unscratched like the two younger genin, he had gotten a few cuts of varying seriousness in the fighting. They hurt like a demon's bitch.

"We're... done..." Naruto panted in exhaustion. He really needed a break, a good D rank to get his mind off things. _Never thought I'd think something like that..._ "Let's... go back."

He turned to follow the way the group had left, he stumbled slightly but stopped when Nico put a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto-kun," She felt sad as she smiled thinly. "Sorry." The girl's hand flashed out, her fist punching him in his chest. _Hard_.

Naruto gasped, falling to his knees. The blonde rolled over - stunned by the attack- landing on his side as he clutched at his chest. "What the hell Nico!?" Shiro snapped in confusion behind Naruto.

"I'm not leaving!" She screamed, kicking Naruto in the ribs. Naruto felt the last air in his lungs leave him from the blow. "I don't care what you think! I'll never leave!"

Naruto gasped as the air left him. He kicked out, trying to pull her legs from under her. Nico jumped over his foot and landed on top of the blonde, a fist flying into his face before he could retaliate.

The last thing he noticed before falling unconscious was Shiro ripping the crazed girl of him.

* * *

The color red was beautiful, it always had a certain elegance to it in all its hues. From dark to light.

It was like eating one's favourite food, the monetarily bliss surrounding you as you ate. Continued by the horror when you'd realise that you ate five kilos of it, of course.

The beauty of the color red as your stomach ripped. It could be even _better_ than the temporary bliss from eating.

It was like a dance, flowing together to make something extraordinary, something so elegant, so beautiful, so eternal that life, could never take away.

It was like being with-

No.

Soaking his black claws inside the bodies of those that thought they could interrupt his vacation and make it even more exciting _without_ his permission. That, while being a pleasant surprise, was something he did not appreciate. So he took his time, enjoying the horror on the idiots who thought they could interrupt him.

There was nothing better than to feel life flee from him.

Something cracked.

Sasuke gasped, his torso launching up from the ground and the boy's forehead smashed into something hard. Sasuke groaned in pain and opened his eyes, glancing over at the blue haired boy who was also holding his forehead. Jeraru must have been what he hit. "Oops?" Sasuke apologised lightly at the boy's moody expression.

"My God, how hard is his head?" the blind boy muttered, his lips turning down into a deep frown.

Sasuke made a face at him, his lips thinning into an expression that would probably have looked ridiculous. "Why are you covered in blood?"

The boy's pale and unseeing eyes seemed to stare into Sasuke's soul as his lips quirked into a slight smile. "You're covered in blood." he pointed out in a childish tone.

Sasuke looked down and squealed as he jumped up in shock. He _was_ covered in blood! He couldn't even see where it ended!

"I see Sasuke woke up," Kakashi-sensei's voice said as Jeraru seemed to try to stifle a laugh. Sasuke looked up, finally noticing that it wasn't just _them_ that was bloodied. The whole room looked like someone exploded, spreading their insides all over the room. "Good job." the silver haired man praised when Jeraru stood up besides Sasuke, wiping his red stained hands on his white tank top.

Sasuke swallowed at the sight of the red room and looked at his hands. They were shaking.

 _We talked about this,_ he told himself. _No freaking out until you're in konoha, keep a calm mind until you have someplace to break down._

Sasuke choked, his shoulders shaking slightly. He grit his teeth.

 _Running! Rainbows, pretty dresses, cooking, drawing, Rukia, Hinata ...Anko - No that's not a good topic, that's a terrible topic to be exact._

"It was no problem, and I got to _see_ Sasuke scream like a little girl." the blue haired boy grinned at his pun.

"Ha ha." Sasuke replied dryly. His body hurt, but he wouldn't be able to look at his wounds with all the blood covering them from his sight.

Kakashi's eye rolled around in slight annoyance and he pointed out the door. "Come on, we need to get going. Sakura," he leaned back, glancing out the door. "One and two are waiting."

 _One and two?_ Sasuke questioned in his mind but followed quietly after Kakashi, his feet splashing slightly against the thick liquid.

"You're awake!" a voice cheered the moment his feet touched clean floor and Sasuke was engulfed in a hug before he could dodge. - something that was usually his thing. The Uchiha blinked at the pink hair sticking to his face as Sakura stepped back.

"Oh, you got your clothes back?" Sasuke asked her awkwardly at the sight of her red battle dress.

-that was covered in blood because she decided to hug him after his blood bath.

"No," another Sakura said as she stepped up to him, a slight shaking putting her of balance as she kept a good distance from him and the bloodied Sakura. "She's the clone thing."

"I'm the clone thing." the other Sakura acknowledged seriously with a nod.

 _Right…_ _my teammate has cloned herself. And I'm covered from head to toe in blood… it's official I've lost my mind..._ Sasuke opted to smile wearily at them as his eyes darted from one to the other, looking for anyway to contrast them.

"So," the Sakura without her battle dress said seriously as she crossed her arms after a few seconds of Sasuke staring in horror at them. "We're heading back to clear the building, find the others and hopefully find our gear."

"Then we're burning down this hell hole." the other Sakura continued with a smirk.

* * *

Naruto woke up to someone slapping his face. He twitched slightly but managed to remain in fake unconsciousness. He had something wrapped around his head and his stomach hurt.

"Get up fish cake." a male voice told him and other hand connected with his face, leaving a prickly feeling from the impact.

"I don't think he hears you," a female voice replied. "I just wish they would hurry up so I can get my things back."

"I _can_ actually hear you." Naruto growled as he opened his eyes and kicked out at the nearest shadow among the light blinding his eyes. The blonde smirked when he felt his foot connect with a person.

"Hey! Hey! It's Nami!" said girl grabbed his ankle, holding it in place in case he decided to attack again.

"I knew it was you." Naruto tried weakly, wincing at the pain in his stomach when he sat up and looked around the large trees.

 _We're outside!?_

She rolled her red eyes, resting her head in her hand. "Sure you did, that's why you attacked me."

"I-" Naruto glanced around as he stood up. They seemed to be outside the building they must have had kept them in. But if Naruto was there, then where was Shiro? Or Nico? "Where's Nico and Shiro?"

G looked at him, a sigh escaping his lips. "We don't know. They weren't there when we found you."

Aimi walked up to him. "We meet up with your team before finding you, but they were nowhere to be found," Aimi told him with a shrug. "Must have taken off the moment they could."

"I see…" he muttered, keeping Nico's betrayal to himself. "well it was probably for the best anyway."

"So!" Sasuke's excited voice suddenly said, surprising Naruto who turned around in shock. The boy clapped his hands in front of himself. Naruto noticed that he was in his own clothes again - jacket and all, but his hair had a strange red-ish shine to it. Weird. " _I_ got the stuff." he grinned and presented the genin with a large backpack with a small swirl as he left the entrance to the wooden building.

"You mean _we_ got the stuff," Jeraru said as he followed the dark haired boy. "We did most of the stuff while you were panicking about being soaked in blood."

Naruto's brain took a moment to progress what the blue haired boy just informed him. "How do you expect people to react to that?" Sasuke returned moodily and dropped the backpack by Naruto. "Hey, you okay? You had a pretty bad wound on your head." the Uchiha asked as he sat down besides the blonde, glancing up at him.

"I'm fine." Naruto didn't really feel any pain except in his stomach, and even that was being to get better.

"Sit down." Sasuke commanded, patting the ground besides himself as Jeraru slumped down on the other side of Sasuke after said boy drummed his fingers along the ground.

"I'm fine." Naruto protested but sat down anyway.

"Well," Sasuke said absentmindedly, his eyes focused on his head as he began unwrapping what looked like one of the dirty shirts they had been wearing from his head. "You can never be too careful. Especially now that our chakra has been blocked by those stupid armbands."

"Hmmm…" Sasuke hummed as he touched Naruto's hairline, studying his head.

"That was everything." Kakashi-sensei told them as he left the building with the two beautiful Sakura's in tow, they had a backpack on their backs except for Kakashi-sensei who was carrying five at one time.

"That's odd." Sasuke muttered besides him as he forced Naruto to bend over so he could examine his head more thoroughly.

"What's odd?" Naruto asked in slight panic, his attention back to his dark haired teammate. What if something was wrong with him!?

Sasuke mumbled something and Naruto looked up, noticing Kakashi staring intensely at them, his lone eye not leaving Sasuke and himself as he gave the team from kumo one backpack each.

"Well," Sasuke grinned, giving Naruto a pat on the back as he winked. "You're good to go!"

"Hey doctor?" Nami asked, walking over to them, her eyes locked on Sasuke as she swung her hips. "Wanna take a look on me?"

The boy looked at her with a horrified expression and blinked twice before standing up and leaving. "I'm too old for this shit…" he muttered as he left.

"Better luck next time." Aimi grinned as as he patted his teammate on her slumped shoulder.

Nami sighed, slumping down besides Naruto with Aimi and ran her hands through the dirt, bringing some up in front of her face. "Do you know what it takes to impress that guy?" she asked him, watching as the dirt slowly slid of her tilted hand.

"No?" Naruto asked, he blinked at his teammate that did a circle around Naruto and his company to talk to one of the Sakura-chan's and G. "How should I know?"

"I guess I'll just have to find out on my own then." she sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Eh," One of the Sakura's - this was getting really confusing - said, as she took Sasuke's place between Jeraru and Naruto. She looked over to the white haired girl. "I think he's into boys, so good luck."

" _What?"_ Naruto sputtered, unable to reply in any other way.

"Really?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, he turned down every girl he knows, and I mean every single one. Even when I asked him about other girls."

"Maybe he just likes older women?"

"I ne-"

"- please stop!" Naruto told the two loudly, holding his arms out in their directions to silence them. "can we _please_ talk about something else?"

"Yes," Jeraru said slapping his own leg. "When do you think we'll be burning down the place? I always love _watching_ a good fire surrounded by the _lovely_ and _happy_ faces of my friends."

"You can't see." Naruto told him, feeling like someone was setting him up.

"Well _someone_ has to express their joy at seeing that place getting burned to the ground, and I don't see any volunteers." the blind boy replied slyly.

"I will certainly love to see that disgusting place burned to the ground," Nami growled, her red eyes glaring over at the intact structure. She gripped her knees in a tight hold, making her knuckles go white. "I'm done spending my days in fear of what will happen to myself and my friends."

"I'm just want to go home," G said as he sat down besides his teammates. He looked tiredly at his wrist that had the chakra sealing armband. "and be free of this exhausting thing, but we would probably get killed before reaching lightnings border."

 _Why would they get killed?_

"There's no way to get them off?" Sakura-chan asked, holding her hand with one of the bands up.

"We tried everything ripping and -well that's pretty much it, they didn't really give us anything with a cutting edge." Jeraru told her with a rueful smile.

"Hmmm…" Sakura-chan hummed in thought. "I think it might be safest if you come to konoha with us to get them off. We'll obviously need chakra to do it but I don't have the training to do something like that."

"In _konoha_ ," Aimi said sarcastically. "like that would ever go well."

"Why not?" Naruto had to ask as he scratched his head. Why would they think coming to the village would be a bad idea?

"Are you serious?" Nami asked sourly. "Kumo and Konoha has a peace treaty, bit that doesn't mean relations are good between our villages."

"I don't get it." Naruto told them. Why would it be a bad idea? What was so bad between their homes?

"Naruto," Sakura said sternly, taking his hand in hers as she shook her head. "There's a lot of bad water between our villages. There would be no guarantee that they'd be safe if they went back to Konoha with us."

"Why would they get hurt?"

Aimi twitched in irritation "How innocent can you be!?" he growled at the blonde. "We're enemy villages! It's what happens!"

"We're going to make an atempt to get the things off in a few minutes. But I could always take you under my protection if we fail to get the things off." Sasuke grinned as he walked up to them again and dumped a backpack by their feet.

"Oh yeah?" Aimi said sarcastically. "and how would you ensure that?"

"The Uchiha clan has quite the sway in the village - despite me being the only one of us alive - so I'm sure I can get Hokage-sama to listen." Sasuke replied, sipping open the backpack.

"The Uchiha clan." G said dully.

"Yes, the all mighty clan with the magical pink eyes," Sasuke replied in the same tone as he stood up. "Now get your stuff, we're blowing this place in a few minutes."

* * *

"Ready?" Sasuke asked his sensei.

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask that?" the silver haired man replied, holding up the sword he had scavenged.

"Well, I can't say I do things the way they're usually done." Sasuke grinned as he hold his arm up above his head and pressed it into the ground.

"I would prefer if we didn't try this." Kakashi told him as he focused.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"You could die," Aimi told him sourly as he crossed his arms. "We don't need you to do this for us, we can just all go to konoha."

"My God," Sasuke hissed in English. "Get on with it or are you going to cry a river? We already talked about this. One."

"Two." Sasuke counted.

"Three."

Kakashi-sensei swung down, hitting the armbands lock in the precise location they theorised to be the weakest spot.

Nothing happened, the blade didn't even dent the leather - which properly _wasn't_ even leather.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Sasuke muttered, looking at the chakra blocker as he sat up. He looked up into the half circle the rest had formed around them, focusing on the Sakura without the chakra restrictor. He grinned with a small amount of satisfaction. "I guess it's going to blow up instead."

The Sakura smirked and held up a thick stack of explosive seals for the group to distribute inside the house. "I guess it will."

* * *

Inner smirked, putting her hand into the correct seal and focused on the tags placed in strategic patterns around the wrenched building.

"Ready?" she asked, turning briefly to each side to look at the group. Sakura nodded hesitantly, dispirited from the loses the explosion would cause. Inners other half had argued vehemently, with Naruto backing her up against Kakashi-sensei ordering them to leave the unconscious bandits and slavers inside. Kakashi had eventually used his higher rank to rebuke her plea and they continued with the original plan.

"Boom boom." Sasuke snickered gleefully from her right and Inner felt the pang of disappointment from Sakura. Sasuke hadn't even tried to argue for the men's life and had kept silent during their verbal battle.

Inner focused back on the tags and sent out her chakra, activating all the tags at once and the building collapsed in destruction.

 _BOOOOOOOM!_

Pieces of the building flew from the devastation, the wood turning to ash from the fires and the bodies shattering to pieces, burning up.

Sasuke grinned, turning away from the giant explosion as the blast threw his hair into his face. "Cool guys don't look at explosions." he said in that weird language of his.

"What did you say?" Jeraru asked.

Sasuke sighed. "Nothing."

Inner turned away from their conversation and rounded on Sakura, bringing her into a half hug. "Come on, let's go home."

"How do we explain this to mom and dad?" Sakura asked, switching topics as Inner lead her away from the burning building with the rest of the group. "We don't even know what this is."

"Well they did always say they wanted to have a second kid some day."

"I don't think this is the way they meant."

"True…" Inner admitted.

"They'll love you." Sakura tried reassuring her.

 _ **I'm not too sure…**_

"Hey," Sakura said sternly, her eyes hard as she stepped up in front of her. The other pink haired girl held a cold hand to her cheek, her green eyes peircing Inners in a steady gaze. "they will love you. They're _our_ parents, not just _mine_."

"I know, it's just…"

"Hey," Naruto said, mirroring Sakura's voice as he stepped up to them. He tilted his head, making his face resemble a fox. "I don't understand it all but you can't dissapear like my clones. So you're like another, but different Sakura-chan. Right?"

"You should listen to Naruto," Sasuke told her as he joined them. "Besides _if_ they don't like you for some strange reason, then I can always adopt you. I always did want to be a mom."

"You mean dad." Inner corrected.

"Yeah… Dad…" he sulked, looking away from them, his arms dragging along the ground.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary. Right?" Sakura grinned and expertly changed the subject of their conversation. "besides, you said you wanted a name. Did you think about it."

"I forgot," she admitted in embarrassment. "Besides, I want you to pick one."

"What about-" Naruto said excitedly, his hands flying around excitedly. He frowned the words dying on his lips. "errr, I don't know?"

"Sakurako?" the blonde eventually asked.

"No!"

"Dragon!" Sasuke said happily, but frowned. "No…"

"That's not even a word," Sakura pointed out. "Kiyoko?" she asked.

"Seriously?" Inner asked her. "Kiyoko?"

"Yuuka." Naruto said, pointing at her after she kept rejecting several different names the two brighter haired genin of the team had suggested for a while.

"It's better, but no." she sighed.

"Hina?

Inner groaned.

"Aurora!" Sasuke snapped his fingers, looking at her with hope.

"That's not a name either." Sakura sighed.

Inner mirrored Sakura sigh, tired of rejecting names. "What does it even mean?" Aurora did sound nice but if she choose it and it meant something like dirt wash then Sasuke was going to be in pain.

"It's rainbow light in the night sky? You know northern lights?" he tried weakly.

 _ **This is going to take a long time...**_

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter** **:** **What am I? A horse?**_

* * *

 **Bonus thing I always do because I need breaks in writing:**

"Hinata!" a voice growled menacingly in her ear and hands gripped her arms in a tightly when she jumped in shock, her Byakugan activating from sheer fright. She spun around, flinging herself out of the hold, pulling chakra to her fingers and tapped the boy's stomach in the same moment she realised who it was.

"Hinata!" Kurenai-sensei shouted in alarm when Sasuke fell to his knees with a gasp of pain.

"Oh my God, not again," he groaned, leaning his forehead against the ground. "Why is it always me? I don't deserve this kind of treatment. Except I might have deserved it this time…"

"Sa-sa-sasuke!" Hinata stammered. "What are you doing here!?"

Sasuke's head bounced up from the ground, his black eyes shining with mirth as he looked at her. "Hinata! My best demon friend!" he shouted happily, throwing his arms out for a hug. "I missed you!"

Hinata smiled brightly as she went down to her knees, hugging the boy back. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I missed you!" Sasuke wept fakely, tightening their hug. "So much."

She pat her friends back as he swept away a fake tear. "I know, it's been some of the hardest two days of my life too. I did not know what to do with myself in my time parted from you."

"Hinata?" Kurenai-sensei said in polite curiosity, one of her eyebrows raising into her hair line from their odd desplay of affection. "What is Sasuke-san doing here?"

Sasuke sprung from their embrace, bowing slightly before her sensei. "I request to join team 8 for their daily duties!" he requested formally.

The other brown eyebrow joined the other in Kurenai's forehead. "What about your own team?" she asked, not denying Sasuke's request.

"Eh," Sasuke shrugged. "It's our free day but it's not Hinata's, so I thought I could crash Hinata's."

"Really?"

"You have very pretty eyes?"

The Jounin quirked a smile. "You can stay."

"Yes! Thank you!" Sasuke cheered and turned to Hinata, whispering with his best hush-hush voice, his eyebrows wiggling. "How is our secret project going?"

"It would go better _if_ you would actually help and corporate with me." Hinata growled in annoyance, glaring at the Uchiha. Hinata had managed to trick him into giving her a few tips about the Jutsu she was making, but she had been unable to get Sasuke to talk about his own project. Other than that, Sasuke had refused to help her like he had refused her the opportunity to help him in his part of the project.

"I'm not supposed to know what it does," Sasuke explained breathlessly, his hands flapping around uselessly. He made a dramatic movement. "You know so that I don't know all your tricks when we one day have to engage in murderous combat."

Hinata looked at him strangely as he continued to mumble incoherent words. "...You know that will never happen right?"

Sasuke's head snapped up. "What?"

"Why would we ever have to fight?"

"Chunin exams!" Sasuke exclaimed happily, gapping her arms as he jumped on the spot. "They _always_ pit friends against each other! So I- we need something to beat eachother up with!"

"But that makes no sense." She reasoned, jumping in tact with him.

"It doesn't have t-." Sasuke started, his words jumping around clumsily because of their bouncing.

"-What's going on? I thought I smelled pink eyes." Kiba interrupted with a bark as he strolled up to them. Akamaru yipped in tune with his partner.

"Akamaru!" Sasuke wept, holding his hands out to the two. "I've missed you!"

"I thought you missed _me_." Hinata giggled in a whisper - knowing what was to come in the next few minutes - as Akamaru jumped and tackled Sasuke to the ground, licking the boy's face until he was covered in saliva.

"Ew! No! Don't! I give!" the dark haired teen screamed, trying to get the Nin - dog of him. "I give up!"

Akamaru yipped in satisfaction, stepping off the boy's chest. The small dog yipped again and jump back into his nest in Kiba's hood. Kiba laughed at Sasuke's discomfort and scratched Akamaru behind the ear as Sasuke sat up, trying to wipe away the spit.

"I take it back, I missed Hinata more." Sasuke replied, sticking out his tongue in disgust. Kiba grinned, helping the boy to his feet, but not before giving Sasuke a short glare to try and show dominance.

"That's better." Hinata smiled to Sasuke as she noticed Shino arriving at their gathering spot.

"I can assume Uchiha-san will be joining us in the day's duties?" Shino stated as he joined them not one second too late or early. "Why? Kurenai-san would have turned Uchiha-san away before we arrived if he was not supposed to stay."

"You're correct," Kurenai-sensei confirmed, handing out two slips of paper to her students. "We have two missions today, simple shopping and delivery tasks. And then as always we're training. I've changed my plans because of Sasuke's arrival, but we are going to do a teamwork exercises."

There had been a few bumps in the team's teamwork after the first test. They worked better than most teams, even those that had been together for years. It was definitely impressive how well they could work together. But they were not at the level Kurenai knew they could be at, they needed a bit more oil.

Hinata gave up too quickly in an argument, Shino was too passive and Kiba had too much of an need to be the alpha of the team. Shino and Kiba's strategies were like fire and ice and it was obvious that they both wanted to lead the team, but didn't want to follow while Hinata was glad to follow and lead.

So she grouped the team plus Sasuke into pairs. Hinata and Sasuke in one and Kiba and Shino in the other. Kurenai hoped that Hinata and Sasuke's ability to share leadership would teach the two other boys about compromising.

Leaders were important, especially if there was a need for quick thinking. But being flexible in leadership was more important. One person could be the best leader in one situation but the worst in another. The need to have flexible leadership usually began thinning around the Chunin stage because of experience, but it was certainly a good capability to have even as a Jounin. Kurenai's own jounin sensei had taught her that, and she hoped she could bring it on with the next generation.

Her old team never found the right balance, but she knew that team 8 could do what she never could do perfectly. No matter how many times she had to steal the last Uchiha, to prove a point. She would see to that her team became fantastic.

* * *

 _ **Author's note, or is it notes?:**_

Shino is very hard to write so I really hope his character turned out alright, despite him having like two lines.

I tried. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

I've also officially decided to stop mega editingthe chapters before putting them up. Mainly because my brain is an impatient woman and she just wants to continue writing chapters so she doesn't drown in things she's already been done over thousands of times inside herself. (Basically because I _need_ the story to progress at the rate I can write without going back all the times so I don't lose interest (and I've also heard that it's a better way to get good))

I guess you could say I didn't try. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Constructive criticism is appreciated

-Kenjo Catze

* * *

 _ **Review thingy**_

To Twotoed: _I am… confused._

To Amber: _Ah! It's nice to know someone who usually doesn't like the whole OC thing likes it. (I feel so accomplished)_

To SilverRider09: _I finally went back and changed the plz, thank you for reminding me. XD_


	14. Chapter 14: What am I? A horse?

_I don't own Naruto. I am not..._

* * *

 **Chapter 14:** What am I? A horse?

* * *

"This is Konoha?" G said, his eyes blown wide in wonder as he marveled at the tall gates. "It's so different from home, all green and stuff. We just have rocks everywhere."

"It's certainly beautiful I love how they decorated, it really makes my eyes fall out." Jeraru stated with passion, a fake look of amazement on his face.

"Will you stop with the blind jokes!?" Aimi screeched when the boy laughed at his joke. "We get it! You can't see."

Kakashi sighed. _Genin._

" _Stay here_ ," He told them, leaving no room for question as he pointed to the ground just outside the gates. He caught the foreign genin in his gaze. "Don't go past the gate. _Understood_? Team, keep an eye on them."

"Yes!" they obeyed quickly, saluting shortly as Kakashi left them behind to talk to the Chunin at the gate.

He sauntered over, signalling quickly to the group of ANBU that had shadowed them after they entered the first wall of security posts. One of the ANBU nodded his fly masked face and disappeared to alert the Hokage. "Yo," Kakashi greeted the two Chunin, a man and a woman shortly. "We have a C-H-13-CB situation."

"Ah! Hatake-sama!" The woman replied quickly and looked almost panicky though her papers to find the right one. She gripped a small stack and smiled nervously. "You can bring them in."

"I talked to the lovely lady by the gate," Kakashi told the group of genin as he pointed to the gate that stood with its doors wide open. "So what do you say we don't make her wait any longer?"

The white haired girl, Nami swallowed thickly and nodded after a few, not so subtle glances at her teammates. Kakashi couldn't blame her, Konoha was in a very unstable relationship with Kumo and if they did something wrong it could destroy that. Konoha helping the three genin could also be used to the villages advantage, of they played their cards correctly.

"We just need to check you over and then you're free to go." the female shinobi told the genin and began checking them for weapons, poisons, seals and other items that could be used in an attack.

The Chunin finished her job and gave them the ok to enter Konoha - after slipping her number into his pouch of course. Not that he would ever call her.

"We're headed directly for the Hokage tower. That means no Ramen, you have to wait." He told Naruto who's gaze had been snapping in the direction of his favourite ramen place since they first reached the gate, no doubt lusting after a bowl.

The boy's face fell. "Alright…" he moaned as if he was in pain just from being separated from the food - He probably was.

"Hey," Sasuke grinned at Naruto. "I'll pay if you make it out alive."

"Really!?"

"Yup, now come on, we don't want to keep the Hokage waiting."

* * *

"I see," The Hokage said slowly, his presence was like staring down a monster who was waiting for one wrong twitch to attack. He did not look like all that much, but Nami knew that the rumors were true from the look in the man's eyes. They were cold. "It is indeed an unfortunate situation we are in. But as it stands, I can't do anything for you three. You're not one of my shinobi, and I will not take responsibility for foreign shinobi while they are in my village. I will let you rest but I expect you to be gone in two hours."

Nami heart slammed against her ribcage, they were going to die. The old Hokage had just given them a death sentence. No foreign shinobi was allowed to cross borders if they weren't allied or neutral. But while Konoha was natural, the people of the country would be enemies because of past wars. They wouldn't last the whole trip to Kumo, with their chakra sealed. They would definitely have been able to make the trip if they still had access to chakra.

But they didn't.

"What!?" Naruto exploded. "We have to help them Jiji! Sakura-chan explained it to me, they won't last until they get home!"

"I'm afraid that it is not my problem Naruto-kun." The Hokage seemed apologetic, But Nami knew that he was cold. He didn't care that they would die, and Kumo wouldn't be able to force them to help on the threat of war. Not that three genin would be worth it - even with her bloodline. Kumo had nothing to gain, and the Hokage didn't care for what he could gain from helping them.

"But we have to do _something_!" the Blonde whined angrily, his knuckles turning white as his nails dug into his palm. "It's inhumane-!"

"If I may speak with you alone Hokage-sama?" Sasuke-kun asked politely with a dark smile, gripping Naruto's shoulder to get him to stop exploding in anger as he stepped forwards.

Nami didn't see what Sasuke could do to sway the Hokage in his decision, but he was their only hope of survival.

She hated having to rely on others.

The old man didn't give any outwards reaction. "Alright Sasuke-kun." he nodded to Kakashi who lead them all outside, pushing the fuming blonde out when he refused to leave.

"I can't believe it!" Naruto snarled, stomping when the door closed.

"Naruto!" Kakashi barked. "Take it easy! We were lucky Hokage-sama didn't have them killed right away! I've told you before that being a shinobi isn't roses and sunshine!"

"I know, I just - I've never seen Jiji like that before."

"Take this a lesson," Kakashi sighed. "he's still the same person you knew a few days ago. But Hokage-sama _is_ the Hokage and it's his job to make decisions like those."

"I don't like it!" the boy said stubbornly, turning his nose away from his sensei.

The silver haired man smiled that freaky smile with his eye at the boy. "I don't either, but can only wait and see if Sasuke can get them under the Uchiha clan's protection."

"I couldn't even do anything." the blonde eventually muttered.

Nami smiled, wanting to loft the innocent boy's spirits. "It's alright Naruto-kun, we already prepared ourselves for the worst. But we're grateful to you for trying."

"I'm sure Sasuke-kun will be able to do something." Sakura tried to reassure them in vain.

"He does have quite a lot of power because of his status," The other Sakura, Yuuka told them seriously. "Sasuke could technically order Chunin around despite being genin himself."

The door clicked.

"So!" Sasuke smiled brightly, opening the door dramatically. He closed the door behind him and skipped over to them. "You can all stay until we get the chakra blockers of."

"Really?" G begged. "You really did it?"

"Yup," the dark haired boy replied. "You'll have Shinobi following you of course, we can't take any chances." he clapped, rubbing his hands against each other. "Who's hungry? my threat."

"Ramen!" Naruto shouted, jumping up in the air.

* * *

Sasuke and the Hokage stared at each other in silence as Kakashi dragged Naruto out of the room.

"I'm placing them under my protection, they will be under my care until we can get the chakra sealers off and then they can being the trip back to Kumo." Sasuke said the moment the thick door closed behind him.

The Hokage's eyes narrowed visibly. He looked at Sasuke for a few moments before relying. "A bold statement, are you sure you want to do that?" he asked, the treat clear in his voice.

"Yes," Sasuke replied dryly, rolling his eyes. "You know me, honest to a fault. Besides this way is better for konoha, strengthening relations to Kumo and all that." He quirked an eyebrow. "We could also just kill them for your own satisfaction, but really? Aren't you supposed to be the one that takes the best steps for the village and are able to separate your own emotions from what needs to be done?"

"I see you question my leadership." the Hokage looked at his pipe, clearly surprised by Sasuke's small speech.

"Does it really surprise you?" Sasuke asked him with a small laugh. "I'd be the one surprised if it did."

Hiruzen sighed tiredly. "No, but I did not expect you to be quite as vocal about your distrain," he shook his head. "You seem changed."

"Nah, I just realised what is reality and what's a dream," Sasuke dismissed with a wave of his hand. "So about those four."

Hiruzen sighed deeply. "I will let them stay until we remove the chakra blockers, But they will be your responsibility."

"Thanks," Sasuke grinned in satisfaction, He had accomplished his goal. He turned around and gripped the door handle, ready to leave

"I'll go tell them the good news." he told the older man.

"Sasuke-kun," the Hokage called behind him before he could open the door. "I always appreciate your ideas and opinions. But remember that everyone can be replaced."

"That includes you? Right?" he asked darkly, looking around his shoulder at the Hokage. He turned around again, putting his happiness up front as he opened the door. "So!" he smiled at the group, happy to see the faces of his friends.

* * *

Sasuke frowned down at his noodles, a brief grimace flying over his face. He looked up past the slurping genin sitting on either side of him eating ramen to their heart's content. He looked down again, acting like he hadn't seen the giant moving fake rock.

He ate some noodles, ignoring the chatter around him as he glanced up again. It was getting closer.

"What do you think Sasuke-kun?" Yuuka asked, poking him in the side.

"Huh? What?"

She raised a pink eyebrow. "When do you think they'll be finished running experiments on Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke shrugged. "When they get it of him? I don't really know, but it will probably be a day or two."

"Hey," Jeraru whispered. "Did anyone else notice the footsteps sneaking up on us?"

"Yeah…" Sakura muttered, her eye twitched.

Naruto jumped from his seat, landing in front of the fake rock. Everyone, except Jeraru who just turned his head, having nothing to really look at, leaned backwards, hoping to discover what was happening. Sasuke winced a bit at the warm bowl in his hands as he slurped up some noodles. "I know it's you Konohamaru! The rock is perfectly round! No rock is like that!" he shouted, pointing at the badly made disguise.

"That's what I'd expect from the boss!" a young voice shouted from within the paper rock. The statement was followed by an explosion of smoke from the rock, the cloud covered the area, the Ramen shop they were eating at included.

the cloud disappeared and someone coughed. "I think we used too much smoak." a second young voice said.

The people inside the fake rock were three children, two boys and one girl, all with goggles like the ones Naruto used to wear on their foreheads. They did a dramatic pose. "My name is Konohamaru!" the first exclaimed.

"I'm Moegi!" the girl shouted.

"And I'm Udon." the last kid said tiredly with a sniff.

"And we're the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" they said together.

"What are you doing with the goggles?" Naruto asked in confusion as he sweat dropped.

"We're copying you Boss!" the one called Konohamaru shouted happily, adjusting his goggles.

Naruto looked nervous when the young boy looked at him with a significant look. "You promised that you would play ninja with us when you got home."

"Ah," Naruto said nervously, scratching his neck. "I don't have time right now."

"Why would a _shinobi_ play ninja?" Nami seemed amused by the prospect of playing what they were. "That seems backwards."

Konohamaru blinked up at her, his eyes searching her face. "Are you the boss's girlfriend?" he asked in wonder, showing her his pinkie when she raised an eyebrow.

"He wish." She replied with a smug smile.

"Hello," Sasuke grinned, putting his now empty bowl back onto the counter. He slipped of the stool, crouching by the three children. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Are you Naruto's fans?"

"Hi." Moegi blushed at him as they shook hands."

"You're the bastard!" Konohamaru shouted at him. He probably recognized Sasuke from one of Naruto's angry rants. Naruto shrieked, trying to get the boy to shut up when he began shouting insults at Sasuke in the defence of Naruto.

"Well hello to you too," Sasuke replied dryly as Naruto chuckled nervously. "I heard you wanted to play ninja, is there a spot of another person? Or is Naruto the only teenager that isn't super uncool?" Sasuke paused. "Well you'd automatically get four others in on the game too..."

"What do you mean?" the leader of the small squad asked curiously when Naruto released him.

Sasuke grinned whispering as he pointed at the genin under his protection. "See those four? They're from another village and it's my job to look after them, so I can't leave them alone."

"Are you trying to force us to play children's games?" Aimi pressed with irritation.

"Yes. You need a break," Sasuke replied and turned to the young boy. He winked. "What do you say?"

Konohamaru's face lit up at the opportunity. "Boss!" he shouted, turning to Naruto with a jump. The blonde glared at Sasuke for a second, he grinned at his teammate. "Please!" the boy whined when Naruto was silent.

"Sakura and Yuuka will join us." Sasuke told his male teammate.

"We will?" Sakura asked dubious. "We didn't agree to that."

"They will."

"Alright." Yuuka agreed, dodging a slap to her arm from Sakura.

The Konohamaru Ninja Squad turned three sets of puppy eyes on Naruto. The young group obviously didn't want to miss the chance of playing ninja with so many real ninjas.

"Alright!" Naruto finally exclaimed, not being able to resist their eyes anymore, he tugged at his hair in frustration. "I'll play!"

"Don't worry Naruto, you'll have fun." Sasuke comforted the blonde, bringing the shorter boy into a half hug.

"I hate you." he replied half heartedly.

"I hate you too." Sasuke replied with a wink.

None of the genin or the ANBU watching over the four non leaf genin noticed the cloaked man with a blank mask watching them finish eating their ramen from his position on a nearby rooftop.

* * *

Naruto looked at the crackling fire, it's warm orange flames illuminating his face. His odd bread rolled in cinnamon and sugar on a stick began to gain color over the hot flames.

Sasuke rotated his bread, crackling an evil laugh as his head tilted backward. "Then they all died and everyone cried in sadness. The end." he finally finished his story after his mad laughter, his eyes shining with mischief.

"That was terrible, one." Sakura moaned, her eyes closing in exprastion.

"But it was a good terrible, four." Yuuka said sagely.

"Not in my book. Killing everyone at the end is such a bad trick in storytelling."

"I'm giving it a five." Naruto said, nodding his head.

"Nine," Kakashi-sensei rated. "It started a bit boring but the ending was really good."

Sakura pulled her bread back and blew a bit on it. She looked to Sasuke to check if it was done and ripped a piece of when he nodded. "We need more training," she said and munched a bit on the sweetened bread, her eyes darted out, catching each of their pupils. Sasuke looked down at his bread, not meeting her eyes. "What happened back then can never happen again. Sasuke-kun was-"

"I wasn't tortured!" he snapped, his eyes turning red as he glared. His mood dropped almost instantly. "Everyone in that room exploded! And nothing happened to me! The worst they did was pulling my hair!"

"You were covered in _blood!_ " Sakura shrieked.

Naruto frowned, their exchange sounded like an old argument. It clearly irked Sasuke to talk from the way he got uncharacteristically angry and Sakura seemed angry about Sasuke not talking about it.

Sasuke sighed, his hand jerking through his hair. "Fine, a demon came and cut them so many times they became nothing more than human soup."

 _A demon? Like the ninetails?_ Naruto wondered.

"You could just tell us that you don't want to talk about it." Sakura eventually said, sadness crossing through her emotions like the arrows she used.

Sasuke twitched, a sad smile appearing on his face. "I agree with your point anyway. We need to get stronger."

"Yeah," Naruto growled. "I was completely useless, dead weight." the only thing he had done was pass out when the man's grief and hate had become too much for him.

Something hard japed against his head and Naruto yelped in surprise. He looked over at Kakashi-sensei and noticed Sasuke, Sakura-chan and Yuuka-chan all holding their heads as they stared confused at the silver haired man. "You're _genin_ ," he said, pointing the stick with bread at them. "No one expected anything more from you and you've all blown away any expectation I could have had. you just left the academy so you're still so green it hurts my eye. So take it easy, the mission was impossible before we even left konoha. None of the things that happened are yours to beat yourself over, I'm the Jounin and _I_ am the one that failed."

Naruto stared in awe at his sensei. _He's so cool… even when he's telling us that he failed._

Sasuke giggled and the giggle quickly turned into full blown laughter. "We're- we're really doing the 'it's all my fault' competition?"

"I guess we are." Yuuka agreed.

Kakashi puffed out a breath of air and chuckled. "Well Naruto did come to me with a plan for you to specialise in around two to three things so we can cover each other's weaknesses easier and make - to quote our teams ray of sunshine - Awesome _Boom, Gaannn_ and _Wraaah_ combos." Kakashi made wide gestures as he made the childish sounds.

"Boom?" Sasuke asked, a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes and Naruto didn't have to pay attention to his emotions to know that the prospect of explosions made him downright _giddy_.

Naruto had to admit it also made him giddy.

"Boom." Yuuka agreed sagely with the same crazed glint.

Sakura slapped them both over their heads. "No eksplosions," she corrected. "Yuuka and I were planning on trying to merge again. Our goal is to be able to separate and merge at will. But we'll just work on what we're already learning. Like genjutsu, archery, some taijutsu and Ninjutsu."

"Why don't we split it?" Yuuka mused. "if I take taijutsu then you can take Genjutsu. That would mean we could technically cover each other, and mom and dad are okay with me so that means I'll be staying for a while."

Sakura's mom and dad had accepted Yuuka into their family with wide arms, but Sakura and Yuuka both agreed that it would be better for them if they could merge into one person when they needed it.

"I'm already specialising," Sasuke shrugged. He held up four fingers, his half eaten bread being held to it with his thumb. He took the fingers down as he listed his strengths. "I have medical ninjutsu, my speed, Sharingan - which includes genjutsu and my cheatyness."

Kakashi-sensei raised his only visible eyebrow. "Cheatyness?" he asked in amusement.

 _Wait_ when did Kakashi eat _his_ bread?

"...I ...cheated in the academy spars, and if you think using your Sharingan to learn is cheating, then I did that too." Sasuke eventually admitted as he forced down a grin, he was obviously not feeling embarrassed or guilty at all.

"I knew it!" Naruto shouted at his friend, his mood brightened. "That means that I won!"

"...You won?"

"Yeah," Naruto said happily. He was going to get so much cash. "Everyone was in on it. All the girls except for Hinata and most of the boy's actually voted for you not cheating in everything."

"How did people ever expect me to catch up in three years?" Sasuke asked.

"Well we reasoned that you remembered the subjects." Sakura blushed. She had been one of those that thought Sasuke had been top of the class while in reality he had only been barely above average.

"Anyway…" Kakashi said, pushing them out of their subject. "I already have an idea for what you can do, and who you can go to for improvement."

"Who!?" Naruto asked, excited.

"You are going to be practicing sealing, genjutsu and Ninjutsu with me." A dangerous glint flashed in his eye as their sensei's sadistic side flared. "and I will go see a _friend_ of mine about Taijutsu."

"I have a feeling that there's something wrong with that friend of yours." Sasuke said nervously.

"No no," Kakashi reassured brightly. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Why do we find it hard to believe?" Sakura moaned, wrapping her arms around herself.

Kakashi smiled and Sasuke leaned away from him.

* * *

A furious knocking made Sasuke look up from the game he was playing with his guests and teammates. It was a card game from Kumo where the goal was to steal the other people's cards until they had at least ten percent. It was a _very_ long game and they had already been at it for an hour.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"I don't know," Sasuke told him. "But I'll go check," he grinned, moving away from the table. He turned around, glaring at the other genin. "Don't look at my cards!" he smiled in warning.

"You can't tell me what to do! No cards are safe from my prying eyes!" Jeraru grinned in response, earning groans from the rest.

Sasuke shook his head, making his way to his door. He saw the familiar blue hair though the textured glass and smiled, opening the door. "Hey Hina- Gurk!"

The Uchiha didn't have the time to say his friends name before a hand slammed into his cheek. "W-why!?" the Hyuuga girl growled, her eyes burning with anger.

Sasuke looked at his friend with confusion as she looked away from him. Her eyes were focused on a potted plant he had, her pale orbs looked at the plant with a burning desire to destroy it. _Why the hell would she be- oh._

"Why would you protect some of _theirs_!?" she snarled at him and held her palms up. "Tell me! And no excuses!"

Holding his hands up and smiled sadly at her. "Hey… we can't blame kids for the elders sins… I'm sorry for using this comparison, but it's like when Neji blames you for his father. You were a kid, so you were innocent in what happened. Just like they," He nodded at his house when she began relaxing. "are innocent of the idiocy of their leader."

Her teeth clenched, Sasuke could faintly hear the sound of her teeth grinding against each other. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at his home.

Her eyes snapped up to his hair and they widened ever so slightly. "You cut your hair? You told me you didn't like the 'duck butt' look."

"Well…" Sasuke pulled a bit on the hair that now stood up in the 'duck butt' way. "It's not as short as Sasuke 1.0 had it, but I think I'll grow to like it."

"Why did you even cut it in the first place?" Hinata was intrigued, Sasuke loved his long hair. He loved putting it into all kinds of different styles, from something out of science fiction to some very strange ones - like the one where he made two braids and had them standing straight out on either side of his head.

A dark look entered Sasuke's eyes. "A guy on our last mission kept pulling at it to get me to heal their leader guy."

"Ouch." Hinata winced in sympathy.

They stood there for a while, looking at each other.

"Want to meet them?" he finally asked her. "look the Cloud in the mouth?"

"Carry me?" she asked innocently in agreement, holding her pale hands out to him.

"What am I? A horse?"

"Yes."

Sasuke thought about it for a second. "Alright!" Sasuke grunted, pulling her feet up so he was holding her by her knees and back. Bridealstyle. "You're heavy." he wheezed.

"No," she corrected. "You're just a weakling."

"I love you," Sasuke told her sarcastically, carrying her into his house. "Naruto is here…" He whispered in her ear when he was just outside his living room.

Her face turned red. "Let me go." she demanded, struggling to get out of his arms.

"Hahaha no." Sasuke replied, holding her tightly as he used his foot to open the door. She hid her face in embarrassment. The occupants of the spacey room turned to Sasuke and Hinata in confusion.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted when he recognized the girl in Sasuke's arms after a few moments of confusion.

"I will end you." she whispered harshly when Sasuke put her down. "Na-Naruto-kun." she stuttered.

"Join us! We're playing a game from Kumo!" The boy cheered, happy to have more players. He jumped over, gapping another chair for the girl.

"Hinata," Yuuka said, leaning over the table to her. "You can be in the female alliance."

"Um. Su-sure?" she asked looking between the two identical girls.

"You're a Hyuuga." G said in astonishment his awesome golden eyes locked on the girl's pale ones. His eyes traveled up to her forehead briefly before going down to her cards.

"Who?" Jeraru grinned. "I didn't see anyone come in."

Hinata looked confused when everyone around the table groaned in defeat, slapping their foreheads into the cover. "I-I'm Hinata."

"Nami," Sasuke introduced, gesturing to the girl who waved briefly. "G, Aimi, Jeraru and Yuuka," Sasuke looked around, making sure everyone was well acquainted. "Now give her some cards so the Male alliance of awesomeness can steal them all from her bloody corpse."

They looked away from him and Sasuke smiled sadly.

 _Just keep going._

* * *

Rukia was having a great day. She had just come back from a mission, so she had no work today and Sasuke was on a mission, so it was her free day. That was really all she needed for the day to become instantly better. Being free for a whole day always gave her the opportunity to lean back, relax in her garden, drink a lovely drink and read some books about different kinds of medical treatment and experiments.

Some might say that was still work, but she had always loved exploring the medical arts, finding new solutions for curing illnesses and poisons. It was her hobby.

She sighed, turning the page about an intriguing poison from the Hidden Mist that made the infected person blow up after a half hour. The water inside the subject would begin to boil, until it expanded so much that the body would explode from the inside. It was very fascinating.

"Why do we kill?"

Rukia jumped slightly in surprise, her drink thankfully spilling to the side instead of on her favourite shirt. Her head turned around, her heartbeat steadying as she looked for her student. "Sasuke? You're back from your mission already?" She laid her book and glass on the small table and stood up. "Come give your teacher a hug!" She cheered happily, throwing her arms out for the usual bone crushing hug they always did as a greeting of sorts.

"Why do we kill?" Sasuke repeated.

Rukia frowned, stepping closer to her student and froze when she saw his red eyes. They weren't red as in, I'm using my Sharingan. But ren in as I've been crying my eyes out for days. "Sasuke?" she asked curiously, reaching out for him. He didn't respond as he took a small step back, his red eyes glaring out into the distance. "Did- did something happen on your mission?" She asked with dread, reaching out for him again.

His eyes focused on her, a wild look in his dark eyes. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" He screamed, taking several steps back.

 _No._

 _Not yet, please not yet._

"Hey, hey it's okay," she soothed when Sasuke hugged himself, turning away from her as tears began flowing down his cheeks. She stepped lightly, carefully laying a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Rukia turned her student around when he seemed to calm a bit down and hugged him. "shh... everything is fine."

"No it's not."

"Hey..." Rukia said carefully, looking at the boy's face. "Sasuke, let's go inside, then we'll talk without any strange creepy stalkerish people watching, what do you say?" The woman grinned widely as she nodded, hoping to raise Sasuke's mood just a little bit.

Sasuke looked away. "I don't want to." He muttered.

"I'll give you all the pillows so you can really become buried in comfort." She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

His eyes narrowed as they locked onto hers and she knew she had successfully distracted him for the time being."...okay."

Rukia led her student inside her house and moved all her pillows to one side of her couch. Placering the dark haired boy on the pillows, she went out to make some hot chocolate while Sasuke mulled over his thoughts. Looking at the timer one more time, Rukia cringed. Sasuke didn't even have all the mental training most fourth year students had.

It was too early.

Rukia poured the chocolate drink into two mugs, running a spoon through the dark liquid and placed one in front of Sasuke, sitting down besides him. "What happened?" She asked him despite recognizing almost instantly what was bothering him. "Please tell me Sasuke."

"You're taking some of my pillows." He muttered, grabbing the mug with one of his hands as the other tugged at one pillow she had accidentally sat on.

"Don't change the subject Sasuke." She sighed, taking a sip of her warm drink.

The dark haired boy looked away as he blew air on his spoon with the drink. "Why do we kill?" He whispered and drank the chocolate from the spoon.

"Sasuke." She said, her voice stern as she put a hand on his shoulder again. "Tell me what happened."

"No."

"Sasuke, you're a mess right now." Rukia told him as she gripped his chin and guided his face so he could look at her. "I know you came to me because you wanted to talk, I know you got cold feet on your way in here. You probably had our whole conversation throughout before coming here, just so you could say what you wanted."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide. "I-"

"I've told you on numerous occasions that you need to stop keeping your emotions under lock down. You never say it, but I know you hate the village." Rukia whispered, telling him that he had been unsuccessful in hiding his hate in their village. She assumed that it was because of the shinobi system but she always got the feeling that there was something more to it when the dark haired boy glared out over the village when he thought she wasn't looking.

"Rukia-" Sasuke began.

"Shush," she put her finger on his lips. The boy stopped talking and looked at her in confusion. Rukia grimaced slightly at his pained expression. "I know you Sasuke, and I'm fine with how you feel about the village. But I know you - despite your best efforts I might add, so please tell me what happened. Keeping things inside always ends badly."

Sasuke turned away from her. "We got a simple escort Mission, but you know that - I told you before we left," he glanced over at her briefly. "But it was never why the man hired us. He was a slaver, they wanted to capture us so they could sell us."

 _Slavery!?_

She could have lost Sasuke and then she'd never know what had happened to him unless the village somehow ended up busting him out some day. And even that was highly unlikely, statistics say that only one out of ten slavery building got discovered. -and that was between all the hidden villages, not just Konoha.

She shuddered to think about Cloud finding Sasuke like that.

Sasuke's eyes looked into the brow chocolate longingly. "Kakashi-sensei noticed the ambush further down the road, so we prepared ourselves. But the client attacked us too, he used some sort of teleportation jutsu."

Sasuke took a large gulp of his hot chocolate and winced when the hot liquid burned his tongue. "Tha-that's when I saw him. Swinging a swo-sword at Sakura."

"What happened then?" She inquired softly.

Sasuke took a deep breath, a shudder running down his hunched back. "And then I just kil-killed him! He wasn't even going to hurt her, but I just _killed_ him! _Without even batting an eye_!"

"You didn't know he wasn't go-" She whispered, wiping away the tears that flowed down his small cheeks.

"I KNOW THAT!" Sasuke slapped away her hand and pulled his legs up, hugging them to his chest.

Rukia sighed and pulled the boy into a hug."But there's a difference in knowing and feeling." She whispered, making calming motions on his scalp.

Sasuke leaned into her touch, a sob escaping him. "I had my Sharingan activated. I can't get his face out of my head! He keeps staring at me with those dead eyes! And there's blood everywhere I turn! On my clothes. On the walls. On my face. On my hands. And- and I want it to go away…"

"Shhhh…" she murmured, resting her chin on top of his head. "It'll get better…"

They sat for a while as Sasuke gave her the details of his mission, how his team had been captured by the slavers. How Sakura and Kakashi had rescued him when one of them had tried to make him heal his arrow wound. About the four foreign genin currently living in his house.

"It won't happen again." Sasuke suddenly said harshly. His shaking stopped and his hands clenched until his knuckles went white.

"What won't happen?" Rukia was confused, one moment ago Sasuke had been mentally breaking down in her arms, but he switched from that state to a determined mindset in one second. If he didn't have red eyes and dried tears on his face, she would never have guessed that he had spent the last hour crying in her arms.

"Killing - I'll find another way."

Rukia winced at his determination. "You can't keep that promise," she shook her head sadly, Sasuke did not need false hope. "We're Shinobi, there will always come a time where it becomes the only option. Why don't you just join the hospital permanently?"

"That's not an _option_." Sasuke declined, growling slightly.

" _Why not?_ You keep telling me that, but you _never_ tell me _why_."

"You remember what we talked about? About being prepared?" Sasuke questioned, changing the subject. "I've realised that I was never truly prepared. Everything was like a dream. A bad, bad dream, but still a dream. Nothing really got to me, you are in control when you're dreaming. But I was never in control, I let myself go with the flow, flowing others lead because it didn't matter."

"Sasuke?" Rukia frowned at her student, he was getting the resolve to move on. But it seemed like he was getting it from the wrong place.

He laughed at himself, slapping his hand to his forehead. "I was never scared, because I'd just wake up again. Four years. For what? What did I achieve?"

"Sasuke, don't do this to yourself." Rukia plead her student. "Nothing you've done these past years has been for nothing. Look at the hospital. We would never have been able to cure chakra poisoning without you. And Hinata, her lifestyle has been improved ten times over because of your friendship."

Sasuke looked at her with his expression Rukia knew meant ' _what the fuck are you talking about? Are we still having the same conversation or are you on drugs or something?_ ' "...What? -wait," Sasuke squinted at her. "I'm not going the self destruction route here. I just explained in words - that probably sounded like that now that I think about it - that I was going to be more serious, get a ninja way, take control of my life and my actions and all that. How does I never kill sound?"

"Oh." Rukia was stunned into silence, that was not a reaction she had expected. Sasuke didn't see how his new path was self destructing, he would never be able to avoid killing as long as he was a field medic and shinobi.

"No that's terrible," Sasuke muttered to himself. "I need something catchy."

" _Sasuke_!" She interrupted. " _You won't be able to keep a killing free career_. _It's impossible with our line of work and it_ will _ruin you if you keep thinking that._ "

"But I can try," the Uchiha grinned his devil may care grin, his previous despair completely gone. "What about capturing solves all problems?"

Rukia groaned. She needed to read up on psychology, why did she never do that?

* * *

Sasuke waved happily, he was feeling renewed. It was like someone had splashed a bucket of 'feel well' over him. Some secret sector (sasuke was sure was just a research division, but Naruto seemed so excited at the idea of it) of Konoha's shinobi force had finally found a way - involving things he never wanted to see or think about ever again - to get the chakra sealers off.

He had gotten used to not having chakra in no time (he had more practice than the others - who had used it since six - in living without chakra), so it was bit of a rush once it came back. Everything had been so foreign when Sasuke had first woken up, so the transition from no chakra to chakra had been almost unnoticeable. But it had definitely been like a splash of cold water to the face this time.

It was like the gravity had become lighter the moment his chakra was restored. He would never have noticed it if not for having his chakra returned so abruptly.

It certainly explained how shinobi could move like they could.

"I'm going to miss their smiling faces…" Jeraru told him longingly as they, Naruto, Sakura, Yuuka, Jeraru and Sasuke waved goodbye to the three from Kumo. They had been in the village for a few days, the village had been understandably confused. But everything had worked out fine.

"I'm going to miss the time we weren't surrounded by bad puns…" Naruto whispered, making sure everyone could hear him.

"How long _are_ you actually staying? I thought you'd leave." Sakura asked curiously.

"Well that's the funny thing," the blue haired boy smiled sheepishly. "I'm staying in konoha. I can't be a shinobi anymore because of your rules, but I can stay."

"You're… staying?" Naruto seemed uncharacteristically annoyed at Jeraru. He had been twitchy around the boy since they finally came home.

"Yep, he's staying with me for the time being." Sasuke grinned, his eyebrows wiggled as he looked pointedly at the blue haired boy. He frowned when he didn't get a reaction and slapped himself.

"Why did you hit yourself?" Yuuka asked with a smirk.

"Shut up!"

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped, banging his fists on the door. "We have a mission! We need you to come out of your hole!"

The door opened quickly and Sasuke peeked his head out. "You look yellow today." he said and tugged his head in again, closing the door after him.

The door opened again and Sasuke stared at him for a brief second. "I don't like it." then he closed himself inside again.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted again, banging on the door when he heard his teammates footsteps leave the entrance to his house. "Kakashi-sensei said it was important! Stop being emo!"

Sasuke's footsteps returned, he opened the door again and looked at Naruto. One of his eyebrows raised up into his hairline. "Mission?" he asked and pulled on the straps of his 'all I want for missions is youuuu' backpack.

" _Yes_! Finally!" Naruto pulled Sasuke with him. "Kakashi-sensei said that we would act as backup for team 8, so you need to get your emo act together!"

"EMO!?" Sasuke gaped in horror. "What are you talking about!?"

"You locked yourself inside your house this last week, _and_ you refused to answer the door." Naruto pointed out as they jumped up to a nearby roof, using the free space to move quickly through the village.

"I said I was going to do some alone training! Besides, we already spend _weeks_ working on those combos!" Sasuke shouted back, the wind rushing by their ears. "A girl needs her alone time!"

"Well you're definitely _not_ a girl! So that doesn't count!" Naruto shouted over the wind. A few civilians and shinobi looked at them in confusion as they shouted to each other.

"How would you know!?" Sasuke challenged.

"I've seen you naked!"

"And I've seen you naked too! And I'm the girl here!"

"You don't have boobs!" Naruto told his teammate.

"You don't have to have boobs to be a girl!"

A familiar voice cut in. "Not to interrupt, but it certainly seems like the two of you are having an intriguing conversation." Kakashi-sensei smiled as he jumped up to them with Sakura on his heels. Under his arm he was carrying Yuuka who looked like she would brutally murder Kakashi-sensei the moment he put her down.

"Put me down!" Yuuka growled, her arms flailing around. "I _will_ put an arrow in you all if you don't!"

"No you won't."

Sakura just shook her head in misery.

* * *

Mai screamed, she could feel throat going horse as the seconds past. Red colored her vision as her legs gave out and she fell to her knees, her body landing in a paralyzed heap at the foot of the giant fire. Her nose was suffocating because of the stench of burning flesh.

She couldn't stop screaming, her life shattered and her body began trembling in agony. Not physical pain, but mental anguish. She was dead, her whole world shattered.

Mai had first lost Senri on the job. But she knew that she would be fine, Mizi was still there to live with her and as long as her family was alive, so would she. But then the forest had shook, the ground shaking from the blast and she had been greeted with the horror.

She crawled, her arms the only thing that was working. If she could reach the fire then her suffering would come to an end.

She was alone.

She was dead.

She couldn't even cry.

She was shattered.

 _Screaming_.

"Pitiful." A cold foot touched her cheek and her arms went limp, the man looked at the screaming woman with fake sympathy, his ears tense from her constant abuse of his ears.

"I sensed _him_ in this area," The man talked to himself as he crouched down by the blonde woman. He slipped the pitch black glove from his hand and ran it up her shaking spine as he admired the burning building. He took a deep breath, relishing in the aroma of suffering. "You know how Rex Travis gets when _he's_ involved, I can almost not wait to deliver the good news to him." he chuckled to himself, making small gashes along her spine with his nails.

The woman's shaking stilled beneath his hand when it stopped between her shoulder blades, his nails digging into her skin. Her screams ran out, He smirked nastily. "I might be able to get some use out of you," The hand disappeared into her flesh as he pushed down, her bones creaked from the pressure. She screamed again. "I am a scientist, and you my dear. Where, as they say, at the wrong place at the wrong time."

* * *

 _ **Next chapter: The land of Waves**_

* * *

 **Extra thingy: The adventures of Jeraru.**

Jeraru sighed and shoved his fingers inside his ears to block out the constant banging. "Someone's trying to knock the door down!" he called to his new housemate.

"They're coming!" Sasuke shouted and his footsteps flew past the blind boy as his clothes swayed a bit. "The apples! I knew they'd come some day! They've come to get me!"

"Just open the door! And try to act normal!" Jeraru grinned. He loved living with Sasuke, there was never a quiet day. Something random always happened.

"You look yellow," Sasuke told the voice that sounded like Naruto. "I don't like it." Sasuke shut the door and sped past Jeraru twice. Once to get his backpack and another to meet back with Naruto at the door. He gave Jeraru a pat on his head with a quick "bye!" on his way back to the door.

The door closed behind Sasuke and his teammate. The blind boy sighed and washed his fingers free from earwax, he should have thought about it before he inserted them into his ears.

He hummed, continuing with his cooking after wiping his hands dry. He continued to hum until he placed the bowl in front of him and said a short thank you.

There was a knock on the door.

"Alright…" Jeraru drawled and put his chopsticks down. He grimaced as he made his way over to the door. He would much rather be eating his delicious food then talking to whoever probably needed Sasuke now. That kid knew way too many people. "You have reached the robot butler of Uchiha Sasuke, leave a message." he said in his best meca voice when he pulled the door open.

"I know Sasuke doesn't have a robot butler Jeraru." The woman at the door told him, ignoring the fact that she knew his name despite them never having met before.

"And you are...?" Jeraru asked, tilting his head towards the voice. People found him less unsettling when he looked towards them. God he wished he could still see.

"Oh right," the woman's voice said with cheer. The air whooshed by his face and he grapped the hand mid air and shook it. "I'm Rukia Marion. Sasuke's current Lord and master."

"Well Sasuke isn't here…" He really wanted the woman to go, she was interrupting him.

"I just need something from Sasuke's room," She told him. A hand touched his shoulder. "A small box filled with shuriken and notes."

He took a deep breath, now was not the time to get annoyed - well even more agitated than he already was. "Sure, come in."

"Thanks!" Rukia skipped in and searched Sasuke's room for a few minutes before she came out again and thanked him. "It was good to finally meet you Jeraru." she shouted as she ran down the road, away from his hearing range.

Jeraru sighed and turned around again, going back to his food - that was probably getting cold.

He only managed to take one bite before the front door slammed open and a loud voice announced her violent arrival. "Sasuke! I demand food!" she shouted and puffed breathlessly on the air.

Jeraru took a breath to calm down and decided to be silent so that she would hopefully leave again without a fuss.

A pair of feet touched the ground behind him and Jeraru tensed at her lethal presence when the woman put her arms around his shoulders, her fingers brushing against each other by his face. "Hello…" she murmured in his ear. "You must be the blind one. I really wanted to be the one to interrogate you, you know? But they though my methods would have been… too drastic."

"Oh look," she said before he could respond and he heard his food getting snatched from him. "I'll just take this since Sasuke isn't here. See ya later!" She body flickered out again, the door slamming close after a second.

"What the _fuck_." Jeraru cursed and carefully felt for his food, just in case he heard wrong and the woman hadn't stolen it.

It was gone.

He cursed again for greater impact.

There was yet another knock on Sasuke's door and Jeraru screamed.

* * *

 _ **Author's notie:**_

Did I write angst convincingly?

I feel like I'm scheming when I plan things for after the timeskip (I'm having a timeskip because I'm a sucker for them) that hasn't anything to do with the story for that time but my own amusement. Heheh.

Also. Did I make everyone except Kakashi have a partner/alter ego. Naruto has foxy Kyuubi, Sasuke has Mister Shadow and Sakura has Inner/Yuuka.

Also, the next chapter is coming around christmas to celebrate the holiday which is good for those of you that actually read my shitty story.

Also, Hmmm...

* * *

 _ **Review answers:**_

To guest: _What was awkward?_

To Dark Dust 27: _Thanks for another review and I can totally see sasuke freaking them out by being randomly pregnant…. hmmmmmmmm (many more m's continues)_

To PFMF: _Glad you enjoy the story! and yes it would be likely that Sasuke won't recognize Itachi (They have to meet at some point)_


	15. Chapter 15: The land of Waves

_I don't own Naruto, if I did then I'd probably be a famous manga artist._

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The land of Waves.**

* * *

This was not good. This was really bad, Kurenai-sensei was unconscious. Missing ninjas were trying to kill their client, a power hungry man were draining a whole country of life. Their backup hadn't shown up yet and she really needed a break from this ridiculously amount of bandits trying to get through to Tazuna-san and his family.

Team 8 had _finally_ been given a C-ranked mission to spice up the dull patterns of always doing D-ranks. Even Kurenai-sensei had begun to be twitchy from boredom, and the team would never blame her. They were even more impatient for something new.

So they got the mission to escort Tazuna-san, a bridge builder back to his home in the land of Waves. A simple mission.

But Sasuke's airy words about a C-rank curse came true and after only a day of travelling, they noticed the puddle on the side of the road. It was truly a pathetic attempt at hiding. Kiba smelled them before they could even see the puddle, Hinata didn't see them (she didn't have her Byakugan activated, how would she?) but they water was so very obvious, Shino's kikaichu had notified him of the danger and Kurenai was a Jounin it'd be weird if she _didn't_.

So Kiba and Shino had captured the two that was _apparently_ Chunin. (Hinata certainly didn't believe it, she was a genin. So there was no way those two could be Chunin. Maybe they lost their edge?) Kurenai-sensei had gotten the real information out of the drunk client and Shino sent a message back to the village for backup.

Then they meet Zabuza Momochi, an A class missing nin before the backup arrived. Long story short; Kurenai beat the life out of him, the man had not been very resilient against genjutsu. But as all things go, something had to happen and Kurenai got cut in her side by the large sword before she could finish him.

A fake hunter nin had come to rescue Zabuza from the genjutsu, putting him into a state of fake death. Hinata had used all the knowledge she learned from Sasuke to patch up Kurenai-sensei, but she would not be able to move around for a long time. A longer time than then they had, considering Zabuza's wounds and when he would be back with a vengeance.

They had only spent one day at Tazuna-san's family before bandits for hire had begun showing up to kill the drunk. So Hinata had been fighting for what seemed like hours already, but the horde - the only word she could find that fit the situation correctly - never stopped.

 _How did someone even find this many untrained people to fight?_

So she was getting desperate about that backup. Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru and Shino could easily take them out. They were badly trained, their movements were predictable and all the attacks they did throw at her team were so badly coordinated that it was unbelievable. But that was not the problem, no, the problem was the quantity not quality. There was simply too many and they were getting exhausted, Kiba had to abandon trying to keep the client's safe to protect Akamaru who was the first to hit his limit.

Hinata struck out, hitting another person in the back with chakra, she hit him a few more times. The man went down and Hinata panted, spinning around to the next person in line when one of them hit her in the side and she managed to hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious in one hit. She ducked under a fist and tapped the woman's (it wasn't a man this time) arm, making it go limp by her side. Hinata turned around to the loud buzzing noise Shino's kikaichu were making as they engulfed a person. She smiled at her teammate and turned to another person, hitting him quickly as she turned back to the woman, finishing her with some taps.

Hinata turned around to hit the person behind her, but was hit again. She kicked out at the person to put some distance between them. She never hit and the man who had hit her was lying bleeding on the ground, an arrow stuck in his left shoulder as he screamed.

 _That's brutal Sakura-san._ She recognized the arrow immediately and another scream came from where she had last seen Kiba.

Team 7 was their backup.

"Hinata!" Sasuke grinned as he body flickered into her range, planting a boot in the face of a man near her. "I heard you were having guy problems."

Sasuke and Hinata began knocking out any mercenary coming too close to them one at the time. "Kyaa!" Hinata stumbled against a body, falling to the dusty ground.

Sasuke grabbed the man behind her who was trying to kick her by his collar, chakra in the boy's hand making him stick to the man. "There's something on your face!" he growled and jumped up, smashing a foot into his face. "It was pain!"

He turned around, the Sharingan spinning slowly as he grabbed the next person's head. He kicked out, using the man to kick yet another in the face. He finally kicked the man into unconsciousness as Hinata stood up, taping a person along his legs.

Something was different about Sasuke, he had a look on his eye he didn't have the last time they sparred. His mouth was running ahead of him as usual, but his body moved faster and more precisely than ever before. He was almost a blur to her eyes, she could never quite catch him.

"What is this!?" Sasuke shouted to her as he pulled a guy to the ground, smashing his face into the dirt. "Naruto wannabe club, or what!?"

They were getting overwhelmed, even with Sakura and Yuuka shooting arrows at those that managed to sneak up on Sasuke when Hinata wasn't there to protect his back.

Salvation came when Sasuke had been there for around five minutes and a swarm of Naruto's finally flooded the area, pushing against the overwhelming amount of men with clones tripling their numbers.

Sasuke sighed among the chaos. "finally." he breathed and pulled one of the many clones of her crush into a hug, whispering something to it.

It only took around thirty seconds until all the mercenaries were down and the clones all poofed out of existence, leaving only one Naruto left standing.

"My hero!" Sasuke smiled brightly, out of breath as he ran up to his teammate. Sasuke jumped at the blonde, hugging him. "You saved us!"

"What the hell was that!?" Kiba growled angrily as he marched up to them, he was holding an injured Akamaru in his arms.

"I believe we were saved from a lot of trouble. Why? Because it would have taken a long time to remove the threat alone." Shino told them monotonous as he dusted off his dirty jacket, joining them.

"Yes," Hinata agreed. "We owe them one."

"Ha! As if!" Kiba barked and looked at Sasuke intensely, he snarled and grabbed Sasuke's jacket angrily. "What are you doing here? Kurenai-sensei is injured. Do your job and heal her."

Sasuke blinked at her teammate. "Where is she?" he asked seriously, letting the boy guide him away from the massive pile of unconscious bodies. He held his hands out to Akamaru. "Let me?" he requested as they rushed over and placed a glowing hand on the nin dog after Kiba consented.

* * *

Sasuke rushed to the downed Jounins side the moment his eyes landed on the blood soaked bandage wrapped neatly around her abdomen. He activated his diagnostic jutsu and ran a quick scan of her injury and ripped of the red bandage, his medical ninjutsu immediately beginning to repair the damaged tissue.

The wound was really deep, but Sasuke could definitely save her. But it wouldn't be a nice progress. He removed his left hand from the wound and activated his Sharingan, following the movement of his chakra closely. He manipulated it in the right patterns and placed his hand on her hair, dulling the pain she must have been in.

The red eyed woman drew in a sharp breath after some minutes of constant healing. Her wound had been even worse than it had looked like, and Kurenai-sensei would have been dead if Sasuke - or any medical shinobi hadn't gotten to her in the next couple of days. Her insides was like something had sucked her dry of blood, like a dry throat.

Kurenai-sensei blinked, her red eyes looking up at Sasuke dazedly. "Asuma?" She asked, her voice was hoarse.

Sasuke blinked at her, his gaze leaving his bloodied hands. "No? It's me Sasuke? Hinata's friend that crashes your training sections?" he told her softly. "You were cut pretty badly, but I'm fixing you up in no time."

She frowned.

"I can't feel anything." she eventually said.

"That's me too." Sasuke grinned at her.

"It usually hurts."

"Well it's a new technique Kageyama-san made based on our information on stage 3 chakra poisoning," Sasuke explained gently. "It's way easier to learn than the usual jutsu used for this, that's how I can do it."

He put a hand on her forehead, the sweat on her forehead made it wet but he ignored it. She had a fever. He didn't know how to fix fevers.

She'd be weak for some more days until her body was done fighting.

The wound closed up under Sasuke's hand and made a hair thin line where the opening had been. It was better than nothing. "You need to keep calm for the time being, your body is still freaking out from the injury - even if I did heal it," He stopped the pain dulling jutsu when her temperature began rising slightly. "You'll begin feeling pain now."

"Alright."

The door pushed open behind Sasuke and footsteps rushed in, team 8 hurried over to their sensei.

"Are you okay Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked loudly, his voice deafening the others concern.

"Yes Kiba," she winced in pain. "I'm fine, in pain. But fine and tired."

Akamaru barked and pushed his nose against Kiba's chin. The Shinobi sighed, an embarrassed look crossing his face. "Thank you Sasuke," Kiba told him. "I'm sorry for shouting at you."

"It's fine," Sasuke dismissed easily. "You were right to get me here as soon as humanly possible."

"Kakashi," Kurenai said when Kakashi looked in the room. "Did Tazuna-san explain the current situation?"

"Yeah," Kakashi's eye looked at them impassively. "You were right to call for backup. But you should _never_ have continued the mission, your decision put unnecessary risks on team 8."

"Yes…"

"Sasuke. Team meeting, bring your friends," Kakashi told him, he stayed in the door frame. The lone eye focused on Kurenai. "I need to talk to Kurenai for a few minutes."

"Alrighty," Sasuke grinned as he stood up. He held his bloodied hands away from himself. "Come on, let's go, and I really need to get this blood off my hands..."

* * *

"Gato?" Yuuka growled. "Wasn't he the one that was behind that fake mission?"

"He was." Kakashi-sensei acknowledged.

Hinata frowned with her team, their confusion lancing the air with its distinct aurora. "Fake mission?" she asked, looking at Sasuke.

"Sorry Hina, it's classified." Sasuke apologised and pulled on his hair for some strange reason.

"But," Kakashi followed up. "That is not our problem. Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san and his family until the bridge is finished. Nothing more."

"Why!?" Naruto burst out. Why would Kakashi-sensei not want to help the people of Wave!?

"Because it's outside the boundaries of our mission," Kakashi told him, either ignoring or unaware of Naruto's spiking anger at his sensei's command. "I want to help, but the Hokage was very clear in that we cannot go outside the mission."

"But we _have_ to help these people." Naruto countered, shoving his anger down his stomach. His sensei had orders not to interfere with matters that did not concern the job they were given. He needed a good argument to sway the silver haired man to his side.

The bridge builder's daughter looked worriedly at them, her eyebrows wrinkling together as she frowned. _She's probably worried for her family._ Naruto thought as he looked over to his fuming teammate, Sasuke was downright furious. He didn't show any of the anger on his face, but the emotions swirling around him suggested at an old venomous anger. It was new to feel anger to that degree from his teammate. Sasuke's dark eye meet his, and Naruto knew he had to be the one to convince Kakashi-sensei to _disobey_ Jiji's orders.

A thought jumped in his mind and Naruto knew how to convince his sensei. He took a deep breath and simply told him. "They'll owe us."

His sensei's emotions changed slightly. "Owe us?" he asked.

Sasuke blinked, the dark cloud around him disappearing in a matter of seconds. He grinned.

Naruto gathered the right words in his head and thanked God for Sakura, Yuuka and Sasuke forcing him to read about all the boring stuff involved in being Hokage. "Not only is it the right thing to do, and Jiji was an idiot to expect us to just fall in line with our head bowed. And if that's _somehow_ not enough of an argument, then _Konoha_ will most likely be seen as the saviour of a whole country. A country that, in the future can help konoha if we ever had the need. Not only that, but Konoha _can_ get benefits from it pretty early on. But it's the _right thing to do_ even without all the benefits. Being a shinobi isn't always about following stupid orders, but also about helping people." Naruto glared at Kakashi.

The small flutter of emotion he had felt from his sensei before bloomed out, taking the Jonins emotionless state away. "What you just displayed is a crucial skill for Jounins, Naruto," Kakashi smiled. "Being able to see the benefits in different situations can lead to greatness. But I would usually not do it with this much at risk, if we fail-"

Sasuke interrupted. "Who cares?"

"Sasuke!" Hinata slapped his arm. "Don't say things like that!"

"As I was saying," Kakashi continued, his eye closing cheerfully as he talked in a happy voice. "If we fail then we will probably be marked as missing nin and hunted down."

"Don't sound so happy about it!" Yuuka and Sakura growled.

Kakashi Continued his cheerful mood. "I've never tried being a missing nin, I've always been the one _hunting_ never the one _being_ _hunted_."

"Traitor club!" Sasuke cheered. "We have free cookies! _And_ we have the freedom to eat all the bananas with chocolate we can without being told that's it's bad for us. _It's amazing._ I'm pretty sure that's the _real reason_ why my dear murderous brother killed everyone in my family."

The bridge builder and his daughter shook their heads and looked at Sasuke in sympathy, a slightly sickened expression on their faces.

"I do not think that this is the appropriate time to express your sarcasm Sasuke-san." Shino told Naruto's admittedly crazed teammate monotonous.

Sasuke shrugged in response. "Eh."

"Everyone agree?" Naruto asked, cutting into the conversation like a hot knife through butter. "Who don't want to do this? Raise your hands now."

Shino raised his hand without question and Kiba's fingers twitched, and his hand raised slightly before he took it down again. Hinata looked pitying at him, she knew that Kiba was only keeping his hand down because he did not want to be shunned for his decision. He was caught between two different kinds of loyalty. She wrapped her hand around his trembling arm and pulled it gently into the air.

"Hinata-"

"No. You shouldn't have to make the impossible choice, so I'm doing it for you." Hinata told him sternly.

"You should all just quit." a boy said as he walked over to the bridge builder, hugging the old man.

"Inari," Tsunami told the young boy, her hands on her hips. "Say hello to these people, they're the shinobi who protected our town from all the bandits."

The boy hugged his mother and glared nastily at them. Naruto glared right back, he was not losing to that moody kid! "Mom? They're all going to die." the kid said moodily to his mom.

"What did you say!?" Naruto and Kiba growled angrily at him while Sasuke burst out laughing.

"You can't win against Gato."

"We _can_ ," Naruto growled, he was unconsciously leaning towards the kid. "and we _will_ save this country from that slavery _bastard Gato_."

"I _like_ him!" Sasuke grinned, watching the kids angry glare with hawk like eyes. "Let's poke him with a stick and see what happens."

"Shut up! Both of you!" Sakura slapped her teammates heads and felt satisfaction at the stinging it left in her fingers. That mean it would have stung for them too. "You don't talk like that to kids!"

"Stop trying to be a hero," Inari tuned away from his worried mom, pulling away from her arms. He walked up to a door and turned around, Kiba and Naruto fumed. "Heros don't exist. You're just going to die, so give up."

"Inari, where are you going?" the old drunk asked.

"To look at the ocean from my room." Inari said and closed the door behind him, leaving the group speechless.

"...sorry." Tazuna apologised after a while.

"Someone died?" Naruto asked, somber. He could feel Inaris emotions, the boy was in a lot of mental anguish, the worst kind.

"...Yes," Tsunami answered. "Inaris father."

* * *

Sasuke chanted happily, repeating the word "training" over and until they actually arrived at the small clearing behind the old drunks house. Then he began again after looking around for a few seconds. Naruto frowned at Sasuke when their eyes meet and he looked ready to throttle the slightly older boy.

 _ **It's gonna be a cat fight.**_ Yuuka told her in their shared mind as she smirked sadistically.

Sasuke winked at Naruto who tightened his lips and began chanting with his teammate when Sasuke nodded. Yuuka took the cue and joined them in their quest of annoying the living hell out of the others.

Sakura was getting more and more relieved that Yuuka had split from her as the days ticked by. She had no restraint and Sakura praised the fact she now knew it wasn't herself that had been stange. It had been Yuuka all the time but she had always thought it was her that actually wanted to do all those crazy things before. But she didn't even feel the slightest spark of wanting to join her crazy team anymore.

It was so freeing.

"Well as the three crazy genin are telling us, we're training," Kakashi-sensei smiled.

 _You're just as insane as they are!_ Sakura thought dully. _My whole team except for me are insane…_ the thought was really nice, it made her feel special - especially because it usually was the other way around. The strange one was always the special one.

She should have asked for a transfer - her parents even suggested it, - but both Sasuke and Naruto was beginning to build up muscle _and_ Naruto had gotten into the habit of stripping when he trained. So she would stay.

Priorities.

"What kind of training are we doing? You haven't specified yet." Shino asked, he was clearly excited - as excited an Aburame could get - about being trained by the _famous_ Kakashi-sensei.

 _ **Famous? That guy's a crazy ass, what was he even thinking when he got us to join Gai and Lee-kun in their morning training?**_ Yuuka growled in their shared mind. _**Absolutely insane.**_

Sakura grinned, she didn't need to go training with Yuuka anymore because they had trained until they could be standing on each side of the village at the same time. And with the training allowing them to be apart, Sakura could be at home reading while Yuuka suffered with the team, Gai and Lee.

"We're doing absolutely nothing." Kakashi-sensei said brightly, his eye smiling.

"What!?" Kiba shouted, his hands flew around him. "What do you mean nothing!? What was even the point of coming here!?"

Sasuke giggled, Naruto snickered, Yuuka pulled her lips between her teeth trying to stop her own laughter and Sakura copied her. "Mental training!" Kakashi looked so happy in all his sadistic glory.

"How will that even help us against Zabuza!?" Kiba asked, growling lowly from his chest.

"You kids don't have to worry about Zabuza, I'm enough to defeat that guy. What _you_ need to worry about is the fake hunter nin and potential backup."

"Gah!"

Sakura didn't need Naruto's ability to know that Kakashi-sensei was amused about the boy's reaction. She kinda was too.

"Wh-what kind of mental training _will_ we be doing?" Hinata stumbled a bit with her words.

"Mediation!" Kakashi-sensei clapped his hands and snapped. "My own sensei taught me meditation when I was a Genin and now I'm teaching you six."

" _Mediation_?" It almost sounded like Kiba and Naruto blew their windpipe.

"Don't worry guys! I almost learn it just after becoming jounin. So I'm sure you'll do better than me!"

"But that means it took you like _6 years_!" Naruto accused. "We'll never get it down!"

"Naruto," Kakashi sounded stern, but the team knew him enough to know he'd spew something really inspiring and Kakashi-sensei like. "I was _six_ , that's how old you are. So I'm sure you can do it in less time."

"We're twelve and thirteen." Hinata pointed out.

"Right - twelve. I mastered it at twelve, that means you guys can do it too," Kakashi-sensei corrected himself and clapped again. "Sit down, lie down, get in a comfortable position and we will being! Jutsu's comes later!"

Sasuke " _eh"-_ ed and lied down on the grass, closing his eyes. Hinata and Shino followed the flow until they were all sitting or lying down on the thankfully dry grass.

"Close your eyes." Kakashi-sensei said as he began instructing them through the progress of meditation.

Sakura's leg bobbed and she opened an eye, looking at Naruto who was frustrated if his scowl and constant jittering was anything to go by. Yuuka and Sasuke looked peaceful their expressions blank as Kakashi talked soothingly. Sakura twitched, hoping that Yuuka could feel her frustration through their mind bond- thing as Sasuke called it.

Kakashi looked at her and his eyebrow raised at bit. Sakura glared and closed her eye again, frowning as she listened to Kakashi-sensei's voice.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

 _Damit!_ _Why is this so hard!?_

* * *

Sasuke sighed. God he had needed a break, playing healer for that many people was exhausting. They had just kept coming, five more injured civilians came every time he thought the crowd had begun to thin. He had to stop healing after a few hours - even though there were a lot of people left - because his chakra was seriously beginning to hate his abuse of it.

The only reason he was even allowed to go play nurse with all the citizens of Wave was because he refused to step onto the unfinished bridge. He knew it wouldn't collapse just from his weight, especially considering all the heavy material the builders bring onto it.

But holy if he could control his fear of highs.

So Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei was sweet enough to let him stay as far away from the giant thing.

Sasuke was packing all his leftover medical items into his bags when a voice behind him spoke up. "Need some help with that?" a distinctly male voice asked him, and Sasuke jerked in surprise, the bandage rolls he was putting into a green bag, flying out of his hands.

"Oh my God," Sasuke gasped, his heart beat was going crazy, he turned to the dark haired male who had spoken. He was maybe 19 years old, his black hair was put into a low ponytail and he had purple nail polish on - which was really all Sasuke needed to know that he a was a badass ' _I don't care what you think_ ' person. "Yeah, help that would be nice. A real life savour actually. I was supposed to have been back two hours ago."

He nodded. "Is there a system?" He asked, holding up a box with pink stripes.

"Oh right. Stuff with pink marker in pink bag. Blue in blue and so on," Sasuke pointed over to the relatively big and pink bag with 'this stuff is for when I can't use my mystical powers of healing' written in the side of it in English. "I'm Sasuke by the way."

"I know," he replied, his amusement was clear in his voice. "People are talking about you. My name is Itachi."

"Really?" Sasuke asked in amazement. "My brothers name is Itachi too, but he's apparently a mass murdering psychopath. It's actually a _way_ cooler name than Sasuke, though I have to admit that it kind of fits."

"Really?" Itachi asked him and he - for some reason - seemed to find their conversation very amusing. Who would think that being compared with a psychopath would be funny?

Sasuke lifted the forest green bag in his hands. "You know, the whole helping thing."

"I see." Itachi said as he began putting the tools into their respective bags.

"So what are you doing in wave?" Sasuke finally asked.

He looked surprised. "Why do you say I'm not from wave?"

"Eh," Sasuke replied. "You're too well fed, even the stupid bandits are pretty malnourished. And add to the fact no one around here seems to recognize you…" Sasuke trailed off at the sheepish look on his face.

"I'm travelling around." Itachi admitted.

"Oh! You have to wait for the bridge to be built then, it pretty big so the view will be fantastic."

"I might." Itachi thought about it for a few seconds. "But the atmosphere is tense lately so I might leave sooner rather than later."

"Hmm… true." Sasuke grinned, placing the green bag on one of his storage seals from Naruto. He activated it, sealing the bag inside with a small cloud of chakra.

"What about the bridge?" Itachi asked, handing over the pink bag for sealing. "I saw some more shinobi walking around on it. Why aren't you with them?"

"I wanted to help the people," Sasuke told his awkwardly, his eyes trailing to the left before he could stop them. He sighed, cursing his inability to lie when nothing but his own dignity was at stake. "Alright I'm afraid of highs…"

"Really?" Itachi asked, a hint of a smile on his face as they sealed away the final bag.

"Yeah… it's so annoying…" Sasuke hissed out into the air as he packed all the scrolls into his backpack. "But, thank you for helping me. It really helped speed it up."

"It was nothing." Itachi told Sasuke as his dark eyes tracked Sasuke's movement when he pulled his backpack on.

Sasuke grinned. "Thanks again for the help, but I have to go back," he stepped a bit on the spot and turned around when Itachi nodded. "Bye bye Itachi, see you around! And remember to stay for the bridge opening!" Sasuke shouted back at him with a wave as he ran away to meet up with his teammates.

"I'll see you around." Itachi told Sasuke, smiling at the younger boy's back. He still looked like himself despite the obvious differences, but he still had his childish innocence.

He whispered into the air. "Little brother."

* * *

Sakura's eyes flew open and her hand reacted, grabbing the arm reaching for her shoulder. The arm stilled as Sakura looked at the girl. Naruto snored loudly from her left.

 _ **You feel asleep!**_ Yuuka mocked her when sakura glanced at the girl dressed in pink and released her arm when she didn't see any sign of weapons.

"You'll get a cold from sleeping in a place like this." she told her kindly and moved away to give Sakura some space.

"Who- who are you? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked her and brushed her fingers through her hair as Yuuka kept a close eye on the girl incase she tried anything.

"My name is Haku," She held up a basket."I'm collecting herbs for my friend, he was injured by one of Gato's men," Haku's eyes swept to the side, landing on Naruto. "Your friend is still asleep."

 _ **Something's fishy…**_ Yuuka drawled.

"I'll wake him up." Sakura rolled her eyes, throwing a stone at the blonde, hitting him in his cheek. Naruto shrieked in surprise, his body flailing from the ground.

"What's happening!?" Naruto shouted and stilled, a blush coloring his cheeks red as he looked at Haku. "Who- who are you?" he asked, unconsciously mirroring Sakura's own question.

Haku took a few seconds to introduce herself to Naruto and Sakura convinced the blonde to help Haku in collecting her herbs. Naruto was happy to help the beautiful girl in her task, the two chatting sweetly with each other.

 _ **I'd try to get the two together if Haku wasn't a trained shinobi like us…**_ Yuuka moaned in fake misery.

 _Yeah Yeah._ Sakura agreed distractedly, keeping a close eye on the girl.

"I need to become stronger so I can protect my friends!" Naruto stated proudly when Haku - if that was even her name - asked why they were training so late.

Haku looked sad for a moment before she smiled in delight. "That's good," She praised. "I believe that it's when a person has something precious to protect. That's when they can become truly strong."

Naruto made his face of amazement and nodded happily. "Yeah!"

"That would be Zabuza, right?" Yuuka asked when she finally arrived, she had an arrow pointed at Haku. "Your precious thing?"

Haku looked up in shock, a transparent senbon was suddenly in her hands. "How did you know?" she asked and Naruto freaked out, backing away from her, but not attacking. Naruto made bonds too easily.

 _She doesn't know there's two of us!_ Sakura realised when Haku backed up until she was positioned to be able to hit either Yuuka or Naruto. She placed a hand on the scroll with her bow, ready to fire at any moment.

"Well you kind of have a senbon in your hand. The weapon a fake hunter nin used to fake Zabuza's death. It's a logical conclusion."

"But I did not have it when you said it."

"Wait! What's going on!?" Naruto asked quickly. "Haku? Hey what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I'm your enemy." Haku seemed resigned and suddenly she moved, the senbon hitting Yuuka in the shoulder as she fired her bow. The arrow narrowly hit Haku above her ankle and Sakura unsealed her own bow when Haku moved to attack Naruto. She aimed quickly and fired, the arrow lodging itself in Haku's shoulder blade.

Haku tumbled and turned around in surprise. She made some hand seals with one hand and water began gathering around her, forming into several senbon, Sakura now realised to be made of ice. The needles of ice shot out and Sakura prepared to dodge the shower of weapons.

A massive amount of shadow clones poofed into existence in clouds of chakra, taking the blow for them as Haku fell behind her attack with another arrow sticking out of her other shoulder.

"It kinda looks like wings." Yuuka remarked at the bloody sight.

"Ah!" Naruto screamed in panic, jumping over to pull the arrow out of Haku but Yuuka reached him first, stopping him from making the damage worse than it already was in his worry.

"You're making it worse!" Yuuka lectured, ripping the boy's hands away from the fallen girl. "We need to get Sasuke-kun to look at it."

"I- yes," Naruto said nervously and carefully picked her up, making sure that the arrows wouldn't move around too much. "I'll take her." he said as they began making their way back to Tazuna-san's house.

 _Hey,_ Sakura gripped Yuuka's wrist and held it up to stop her from leaving just yet. She glared at Yuuka when she turned around. _I saw where you were aiming that first arrow. You were trying to kill her._ She mentally berated her other half.

Yuuka's eyes narrowed, she didn't say anything for a while and ripped her hand away, walking away from Sakura. _**She was the enemy.**_ _**I just did what you don't have the stomach to.**_

* * *

Sasuke was lying upside down on Tazuna's roof as he hummed a tune he had heard a few days back in konoha. He glanced around with glowing red eyes as he spend his free time on keeping a watch out for any that would be stupid enough to attack them. It _had_ been Naruto's turn but he never showed up for breakfast and Yuuka went out to get him and Sakura an hour or so back.

So he was the only one left from team 7 to keep watch.

Sasuke rolled around onto his stomach when his Sharingan picked up some movement in the distance. It wasn't long before he could see Naruto run night carefully towards the house carrying a random girl filled with arrows. Sakura and Yuuka came running after the boy a few seconds later. Yuuka was bleeding from her shoulder too.

 _What. the. frek._

 _ **Watch your language bitch.**_ Mister Shadow commented.

 _I did._ Sasuke rolled his eyes and heard Naruto's screams for him to assist a person named haku, who was probably the girl in his arms.

Sasuke rolled of the roof, landing on his feet as Naruto stopped in front of him. "You-" he gasped for air. "You gotta help Haku."

Sasuke sighed,, gesturing for Naruto to follow him inside. _So much for resting._

"Alrighty…" Sasuke muttered when they laid the girl on her stomach. Sasuke began cutting through her clothes without a word and looked at the damage. "So what happened?" he asked and began removing the arrow in her left shoulder blade carefully.

"She's- uh," Naruto fidigted, looking at her back. "She's the fake hunter nin."

"And we shot her," Yuuka said as she and Sakura joined them. She was pressing a cloth to her wounded shoulder. "She looks like she has wings now. It's a pity we have to remove them."

"She kinda does…" Sasuke agreed distractedly as he carefully removed the first arrow and began healing the deep hole.

"She's going to be fine? Right?" Naruto asked as he sat down by her. "Right?"

Sasuke glanced up at the blonde and pointed briefly at the arrow in her leg. "She might not be able to walk depending on how the arrow hit her."

Naruto glared at the arrow but didn't say anything as he waited for Sasuke to finish.

It took a little while but Sasuke was able to heal Haku up. She wouldn't be able be to walk for a few weeks but that wasn't all that long a time, and it was enough for them to finish the mission. That meant there was one enemy less. And Naruto sealed her chakra, just to be sure.

Kakashi-sensei joined them with the client as Sasuke was finishing up Haku's ankle and decided to bring Shino, Hinata, The Haruno duo and Sasuke with him to help devise a plan of attack once they hopefully got intell out of Haku.

They could always buy Haku and her masters help once they got rid of Gato, pay them more with their clients own money for them to betray him.

No honor among shinobi, the enemy of yesterday is my ally today - or something like that.

* * *

One part Sasuke cared about the small boy who lost his father while the other part of him just sneered as it turned his back on the suffering kid. Sasuke understood, that yes, the boy had his reasons for being a brat and that Sasuke didn't have anything to complain about because, Inari was still a _kid_.

But God if he wasn't becoming annoying from his constant negativity, Sasuke still would help - of course he would. _But that kid..._

Sasuke's jacket slipped of his shoulders as the young boy glared fiercely, his big child eyes holding a weight they shouldn't have. Sasuke glared back, sticking his tongue out and decided not to activate his Sharingan for effect when the boy whimpered, flinching from Sasuke's stare of _death_.

Hinata hit him over his head and he dropped his reddish black jacket in surprise. "Stop scaring the kid!" she hissed. "You are not _helping_!"

"Awkward hug of apologies?" Sasuke asked and held his arms out to her.

Hinata sighed. "Awkward hug of apologies." she replied and hugged him - as the hugs title had suggested - awkwardly. Sasuke looked over to Haku, the girl had agreed to help them if they could double the pay Gato had promised her and Zabuza.

Sasuke was sure Gato had that money somewhere in his base. But on the off chance he _didn't,_ Sasuke had promised to pay for it.

He was going to lose like 5 percent of the money his clan had cooked up in the time they had been dead.

Sasuke glared darkly at the wall.

It was only a matter of time now, and then Sasuke would get his revenge.

No one hired people who pulled on _his_ hair and got away with it.

Revenge would be sweet.

* * *

 _ **Next chapter: Jackpot**_

* * *

 **Bonus story: and merry Christmas for those that celebrates it**

"What are you doing?" Rukia had to ask. She acknowledged that her student did some strange and downright bizarre things some times, but this, this was probably the strangest thing he had ever done.

"It's Christmas!" Sasuke grinned happily at her, happier than she had ever seen him before in their almost year long master student relationship.

"So you said a month ago." She hadn't blinked when Sasuke began decorating his house with paper and glass in the shape of hearts and stars. But he had pulled a _tree_ into his house and he was _decorating_ it in the same theme as the rest of his house.

Sasuke glanced at his tree then he frowned cutely at her. "It's a _Christmas tree_ ," he took one of the heats of a green branch and turned it around, dropping the piece of wrapped chocolate into his hand. "it has _chocolate_." He elaborated.

What did Christmas even _mean?_

"Alright the trees going out." Rukia decided, it was going to be a mess once it began to dry.

"No!" Sasuke exclaimed, pushing her away from the tree with all the strength his small arms could muster. "I need it! Or- or I'll hate you forever!"

Rukia looked deep into his big black eyes and sighed. "Alright, you can keep the tree. But you're the one who's going to clean it up."

Sasuke's face lit up with joy. "Yes!" he shouted to the heavens, throwing his hands up.

In the end, she was the one who cleaned up the tree because Sasuke had taken a beating in an academy spar and was still sore despite being healed up.

The little demon probably planned it all.

* * *

 **My notes of occasional impotence:**

I am in no way an expert on injuries so things might not add up with real life. But this is a manga world, so meh.

Also.

Guess who heard his foolish little brother lost his memories.

And _Sakura_ thinks she's the normal one…

...lol

* * *

Review answer-y thing:

To child-of-paradox-and-chaos: _I'm glad you like my sasuke!_

To KellyHann: _Thank you for your first review! and yes all coments no matter how small helps me write!_

To DarkDusk27: _That was what I was going for! I wasn't sure anyone would actually notice that fact of sasuke's and Hinata's relationship!_


	16. Chapter 16: Jackpot

_I don't own Naruto, I am me._

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Jackpot.**

* * *

"This is the place?" Naruto asked, turning around to look at the surrounding area as he studied the solid iron door leading down to Gato's lair. It had a sign on it with 'pull to open' written in red. Haku had told them it's exact location, but they had still managed to get lost on their way.

"Yes." Hinata confirmed, her eyes were bulging with the strain of her bloodline. Ba-gan something. "Just down the stairs, and then we're in."

Sasuke glared at the door, mentally burning holes in it. "Revenge..!" he hissed lowly as his back hunched.

Naruto sweat dropped. "Sasuke?" he asked carefully, placing a hand on his teammates shoulder. He felt nervous. "Are you in emo land? Can you get out again?"

"Revenge..!" he hissed in reply, his eyes glaring at him.

Hinata sighed and massaged her eyes. She walked over and took a banana from her pouch, she studied it for a few seconds.

 _Why does Hinata have a banana?_

Then, before his eyes Hinata slapped Sasuke with the fruit, it's peal smacking against his skin. Sasuke shrieked loudly, grabbing the banana from Hinata's hand and brought it up to his mouth, biting in the hard peal.

 _I'm done_. Naruto decided and walked past the two. He tried the doors handle, tugging at it. It didn't give in and naruto placed himself so he was standing level with the ground as he tried to forcefully pull the door open like Haku said they needed to do.

"Try pushing." Sasuke said and tapped on the door.

Naruto stepped down to the ground, casting a dark glance at Sasuke. "How about you take this seriously?"

Sasuke looked surprised at his accusation and he frowned warily. "I'm calming my nerves. Open sesame." he replied and pushed lightly at the door. It slid open, not making a sound until it clanked silently against the wall. He turned, grinning smugly at Naruto and Hinata, only to receive a banana in his face.

"Get inside, Naruto-kun is now the leader of our mission." Hinata said, taking the leadership from Sasuke without remorse.

"You traitor!" Sasuke hissed without bite.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata ignored Sasuke.

"Um- we go inside and split up?" Naruto asked, he couldn't remember all the points of the plan because he hadn't been the one who needed it.

Naruto got the feeling Kakashi-sensei set them up to giving him the leadership. That stupidly haired man always tried to give him challenges regarding leadership.

"Yup!" Sasuke agreed, clapping his shoulder. He grinned nastily at Naruto. He was right, Kakashi-sensei had set him up.

The stairs led down to a corridor going to the right and left. The walls were decorated with different kinds of paintings from landscapes to random colors mixed together in what was apparently art. Sasuke made a sound of wonder as he gazed up at a painting encased in glass of a woman smiling slyly.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked, "Can you find Gato?"

Hinata stood frozen to the spot as her eyes tracked halls further down the compound Naruto couldn't see. "No, I can't see him. He might be too far in the facility."

"So we split up, Hinata and me gets Gato and Sasuke finds his money," Naruto rehearsed the mission for Hinata and Sasuke.

He looked at Sasuke.

"Will you stop?" he asked Sasuke who was carefully balancing the painting onto a scroll.

Sasuke sealed up the painting and grabbed the scroll with his foot, using chakra to hold it up in hand reach. He grabbed the scroll. "Yes."

Naruto sighed, _Damit Kakashi-sensei._ "Sasuke left." Naruto pointed down the corridor and Sasuke waved at them, skipping down past the paintings.

* * *

They were standing off, even without being physically able to see each other. The tension was so thick, Sakura would swear that it was physically choking her. Yuuka was standing impassively besides her, seemingly not noticing the heavy air.

They had gone with the bridge builder to find the workers littering the bridge with their guts thrown out for everyone to see. The stench was suffocating, and Sakura had desperately wanted to run and hide the moment she saw the first drop of blood. But she had promised herself that she would never run, she would stand in the way of danger if it meant protecting people.

"Long time no see Kurenai!" a male voice growled. "I see you replaced your brats! They look even worse off than the last ones! One of them is shaking!"

"I'm afraid they're not _my_ students Zabuza." Kurenai told the mist cooly.

"Where is Haku?" Zabuza asked, getting straight to the point, killingintent washing over them. Sakura stood frozen in fear.

"Who cares!" a younger male interupted loudly. "I want those two!"

The mist surrounding them crept away and Sakura could finally see the man she assumed was Zabuza Momochi. He was glaring as he held the handle of the enormous sword on his back, the Kubikiribocho. A meter or so to his side was two women dressed in black and a boy around her own age, who leered at Yuuka and herself.

Sakura shivered.

"Zabuza," Kakashi-sensei called out, delivering the message quickly. "She wrote a note for you." he withdrew the note Haku had written for Zabuza and threw it to the man who caught it without a word.

"You cannot be serious!" the red haired woman hissed as Zabuza read Haku's message. "I'll gut your pet if she's helping these konoha freaks!"

Sakura sincerely hoped Haku's safe word was going to work, or the man might not believe that Haku was willing when she wrote the note otherwise. The man scowled but his hand relaxed on his sword.

"It seems we were bought," Sakura blinked and Zabuza had his sword plunged in the black haired woman's back, extending out her stomach in the time the blink took. "I never liked you anyway." Her body exploded into lightning, and the sword allowed it to travel up to Zabuza's arms.

Zabuza grunted and body flickered over to Kakashi-sensei. "You better keep your end of the deal. Kakashi of the Sharingan." he growled, testing his grip on the giant cleaver.

"Of course." Kakashi-sensei replied in that pleasant tone of death they knew meant mental pain.

 _ **Sakura! The boy!**_ Yuuka screeched in her head and Sakura's head snapped towards the boy just in time to jump away as he made a grab for her neck.

"Heh," Zabuza grinned as Yuuka shot an arrow after the boy. "looks like Kenji finally meet a pair of rivals."

Kenji made to grab her again and Sakura made a split second decision to move away from the older shinobi when a giant wave of water came from above them.

Jounin were crazy.

Sakura put chakra into her legs and jumped a good distance down the long bridge so they weren't going to fight on the edge anymore. _Yuuka! Take front!_

 _ **Yes!**_ Yuuka switched with Sakura, bringing the original girl behind Kenji while Yuuka, who had better taijutsu was in front of him. Sakura placed a genjutsu Sasuke had taught her - it made her practically invisible - on herself and nocked an arrow, waiting.

Yuuka meet the boy's grabby hand with a fist to his fingers, they bend backwards at an unnatural angle. Kenji screamed, falling away from her as he grabbed his abused fingers in pain.

 _In coming!_ Sakura warned.

"You bitch." he snarled at her and removed his hand from his fingers. They were completely healed, like Yuuka hadn't just completely ruined them seconds earlier.

Sakura struck in shock, her arrow hitting its intended mark. Kenji's blue eyes flashed wildly as he fell to one knee his leg useless from the arrow.

Yuuka took her chance and rushed him as she formed hand seals. A dagger of fire appeared in her hand and she slashed at his head the moment she was close enough. She burned an opening through his shoulder when he grabbed for her arm, managing to divert her attack to a less lethal place.

He finished some hand seals Yuuka hadn't noticed and the air seemed to solidify around her. The air rushed at her, throwing Yuuka away from him as it also caught an arrow shot from Sakura mid air.

 _ **Oh shit.**_ Yuuka gaped when he stood up and the several centimeter deep gap in his shoulder closed magically before her eyes.

 _Oh shit._ Sakura agreed.

* * *

"Are you sure we'll be safe?" Tsunami's eyes darted around the room as she asked her question, they stayed silently at Haku, showing her unease at the situation.

"Don't worry Tsunami-san, Kiba and I will be here to protect you and your son from any danger." Shino said.

"What…" She swallowed. "about _her_?" Tsunami had been uneasy in her own house since the shinobi had bought the girl, who had been working for _Gato_ , inside her house. They said it was _safe_ , but Tsunami had the right to be _paranoid_. Gato had sent people after her family several times.

"I will not harm you or your son," Haku said. "I was hired to eliminate your father. So you and your son is safe, even if Naruto-kun and Sakura-sans teams can't pull though."

Inari scowled. "That won't happen. Naruto is going to get that money!"

"Ha!" Kiba barked. "If anyone is going to do it its Hinata! Naruto was at the bottom of our class while Hinata was at the top!"

Inari glared at Kiba for tarnishing his new found admiration for Naruto. Tsunami was happy that her son had found new determination, but she wished it had been herself that had finally been able to get to her son and not a shinobi and his sensei

"Naruto is a thousand times better than any girl!" Inari snapped childishly.

"Hinata is better!"

"Naruto is!"

"Hinata is a thousand times better than Naruto!"

"You sound like you _like_ her! In the _Ewww_ way!"

"Wh- what-?!" Kiba blushed as Inari smirked at his victory.

There was a kreek and the wall of her house suddenly collapsed inwards, the wood splintering as a sword reflected the light from outside menacingly.

Tsunami screamed as blood sprouted from her shoulder.

* * *

"Of course." Kakashi replied pleasantly and moved his headband up from his right eye.

The boy with the two female shinobi attacked, going after Sakura's neck. She dodged in time and Zabuza grinned darkly when Yuuka shot an arrow after him. "looks like Kenji finally meet a pair of rivals."

The two women attacked in synchronisation the red haired one making hands seals while the other spun around her with a staff. Sakura dodged the boy again and Kakashi smiled when he recognized the jutsu the woman was going to use on them.

He gave Zabuza and Kurenai a signal to stay back. Kakashi flew through the hand seals and a giant wave of water came rising up from the ocean on both sides of the bridge. They clashed together to wrestle about who was stronger. The enemies wave eventually overtook his and Zabuza jumped to meet the black haired woman's staff when she got close enough. "Is that all you have Karen?" Zabuza taunted when his weapon made a small cut in her shoulder.

The other woman made to attack Zabuza's back with a sword, but Kakashi interrupted her, his kunai making small sparks against her sword when she tried to push him back. Her grip tightened on the sword and fire blossomed from the handle, encasing the blade in hot flames. She smirked. "My name is Hana." she introduced herself.

The fire burned against his gloves, heating up his skin. "Ah, i'm Kakashi." kakashi kicked his left leg out after her and she jumped away. Her eyes snapped to the side, seeing something that did not exist. She snarled, slashing after Kurenai's genjutsu like a mad dog.

 _Why not._ Kakashi thought and walked over to stab her, Karen was busy with Zabuza a good distance away. Maybe he could just get it over with and go home, that would be nice.

Hana's sword stabbed out when he got close enough, the flames missing his stomach by quite the distance when he jumped up. He threw the kunai at her head and did a quick jutsu. The kunai multiplied and Hana skillfully dodged them, only needing her sword to deflect a few.

She put her sword back into her scabbard as she jumped back and began making hand seals. They ended in the tiger seal and she sucked air in, blowing out a massive dragon made of fire.

Kakashi grinned, she was good at fire ninjutsu. But while she was better at water ninjutsu than him, his water jutsu were better than her fire. Water from their previous clash lifted of the bridge and formed a dragon of water. It roared, and the smirk fell of her face.

The dragon of water surged, they clashed in a battle of strength. But the fight was already determined from the beginning and Kakashi's dragon closed its jaws around the fire dragon's neck and its water put its opponent out. Kakashi's dragon roared in victory and rushed his opponent, the water flew around it and the light reflected itself in the water, creating a stunning array of colors.

Kakashi did a quick series of hand seals and threw his hand out, throwing a lightning jutsu at the dragon. The lighting merged with the water and the dragon smashed into the bridge, rocking the structure of the bridge. It smashed itself into destruction, the electrified water flying out at Hana.

She dodged the dragon, but she got hit by the flying water exploding out from the point of impact. Hana screamed, the lightning in the water burning at her nerves.

She fell down, twitching a few times and Kakashi body flickered over to her, kunai at the ready. He stabbed down but was interrupted by the abrupt appearance of the other woman's staff aimed at his head.

* * *

Sasuke smirked as he danced down the surprisingly clean corridor, an old song from his old world ringing through his mind.

He waved at a brunette man walking towards him and danced right past him after a curious gaze.

"Hey," The man's footsteps stopped. "Who are you?"

Sasuke pinched his lips together when his grin went against his wishes and widened. "Hi!" he said and jumped around to look at the man, Sasuke smiled brightly, walking towards the man. "I'm Sasuke!"

"What division are you in?" he asked and took a step back when Sasuke didn't stop, almost walking into him.

" _Who are you?_ " Sasuke returned, putting empathises on every word, his grin returned, showing off his teeth as he leaned up at the man. "How am _I_ to know you're not an enemy of Lord Gato?"

"What- what are you talking about? I would never-"

"-Shush." Sasuke interrupted, reaching up and placing a finger on his lips. His eyes turned red and the black spots began spinning around his pupils. "You're getting awfully nervous, that's why I need you to show me where lord Gato stores all his most valuable items."

The man's eyes grew dull as he stared into the enchanting red eyes. "Lord Gato needs me to show you where his Treasure is?"

"Nope." Sasuke grinned. The man didn't hear him and turned around to show Sasuke the way to Gato's _Treasure_. Who called it treasure? That was just _childish_.

Sasuke approved.

He wondered briefly about what would happen if he made the guy jump out a window.

"Oh hi!" Sasuke greeted the next person he met and jumped up, tugging at his collar before he could pass by them.

"Wha-" he began but quickly straightened up, joining the other man in a world inside an illusion. They were no more than his puppets like that.

 _How sinister_. Sasuke chuckled, letting the two show him they way.

The stopped by a normal wooden door with old crumbling white paint. Sasuke examined the door for a few seconds. "So, key?" he asked.

The last person Sasuke picked up turned his head in a zombie like motion. "Only Lord Gato has access to the room, there's several alarms installed to alert the complex of any intruder."

"Well?" Sasuke asked and poked one of his genjutsu puppets.

"This way." They turned at the same time to show Sasuke the way to Gato's room, office or whatever he lived in.

Sasuke crackled up, his silent laughter filling his brain.

 _ **Ugh keep quiet you bitch, I'm trying to have a nice time.**_ Mister Shadow snarled for Sasuke to stop his admittedly senseless laughter.

 _You're just salty that I haven't let you stretch your legs since you made human soup._

 _ **Heh,**_ Mister Shadow nudged at his mind. _**It was pretty impressive how much I could fuck up their bodies, I did not even know you meatbags could store that much body juice.**_

 _...It's called blood._ Sasuke rolled his eyes.

 _ **Yeah. Sure. I really enjoy our heat to void talks anyways.**_

 _And I enjoy having a psycho to talk to, it's never boring._ And _I get a demonic shadowy bodyguard._

 _ **I knew you'd see things my way eventually.**_ Mister Shadow grinned.

 _What's your name then?_

 _ **None of your fucking business!**_ He _roared_ and Sasuke flinched in surprise, his feet stumbling on the flat floor.

 _I won't ask! Jeez, you could just have said you didn't want to tell me. Unlike most people, I actually respect privacy._

 _ **Your minions stopped duck butt.**_ Mister Shadow eventually said. Sasuke stopped, turning around to look at where human puppet one and two was staring at the guarded door in in a trance.

 _Thanks for the heads up._

The two guards look at each other before shoving the two puppet people. "don't just stand there!" one of them snarled.

Sasuke jumped, shuffling over to the two. "Ah! I'm sorry!" he bowed down and continued, looking the two on the eye. "these two have gotten the elusive Zombie virus, very dangerous."

They didn't reply, their faces going limp as Sasuke's genjutsu took effect.

"This is seriously cheaty," Sasuke muttered, deactivating his Sharingan and gestured for the two to open the door for him. They gave a quick message to those inside and opened the door after a few seconds. "But they can't use chakra so I guess it's kind of a given."

Sasuke entered the room with a light step, his eyes instantly finding the small man sitting at a large desk with money stacked up on one side and paperwork on the other. "Hello." Sasuke greeted the man.

"Who are you?" Gato demanded, his lips forming a nasty frown.

Sasuke bowed down for the second time, but brought his arm with him for extra effect. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he straightened up. "And you Gato-sama is a man I could see myself working with."

Gato's eyes narrowed behind his glasses in suspicion. "Work with…?"

"Yes," Sasuke tapped the side of his head to catch the man's gaze with his own. Sasuke smirked. _Gotcha._ "Do you have any guards?" he asked with a tilt to his head.

Gato didn't get to reply before a shadow jumped out, hitting Sasuke in his face. He was thrown back into the closed door and the attacker who crouched on Gato's desk revealed himself to be a dark haired, blue eyed man. Sasuke swiped away the blood from his mouth and glared at the man, his Sharingan spinning quickly.

"That's not going to work on me." the man said slowly, resisting Sasuke's genjutsu as he slipped down from the table to stand protectively in front of Gato.

Sasuke stood up, using the doorknob to pull himself up. He leaned against the door, hiding his hands from view and moved his chakra into his hands. Sasuke's hands ignited by the tips of his fingers before spreading up to his palms. "Any chance we can talk about this as civilized people?"

"No." the man said and sprinted to attack Sasuke.

Sasuke threw out his hands, the fire flew from the tips of his fingers and hit the bodyguard in his face, just by his eyes. He stumbled back, his mind going into shock at the fire that didn't burn his skin. Sasuke switched with stack of money and pulled the man's legs up under him with his foot. The fire went out the moment his body touched the cold floor and Sasuke placed a glowing hand on his face, knocking him unconscious.

 _ **That bitch Rukia would be so proud,**_ Mister Shadow mocked. _**Using medical ninjutsu as a weapon.**_

Sasuke frowned, nudging the man with his foot. "Shut up," he growled and walked up to Gato. "Rukia already knows that. We made a list, remember?"

Mister Shadow didn't reply.

"I - don't tru- trust them not to- betray me." Gato said, his reply delayed for Sasuke's little scuffle with his bodyguard. The man resisted Sasuke genjutsu pretty well, he was even able to _lie_. Gato must have had some kind of chakra training or experimentation for him to be able to do that.

Sasuke crossed his arms. "So how do you get into your treasure vault? A key?"

"There- is a chakra detector and a lock," Gato replied as he jerkily stood up, walking over to the door with Sasuke. "I could not trust them not to try and kill me for _my_ money. So I made an insurance."

That explained where Gato had used chakra - the seal. Sasuke left the two guards standing at the door to Gato's office with no immediate memories of what had happened to them. It looked like Sasuke would be the one to finish team awesome's mission. Hinata and Naruto was probably running around in circles, or having an epic battle Sasuke was happy to be excluded from.

 _ **I-**_ Mister Shadow suddenly spoke up in surprise. _**I'm being summoned.**_

"Wait!" Sasuke exclaimed. "You can be _summoned_?"

 _ **See you later!**_

"...Mister Shadow?" Sasuke asked.

He didn't reply and Sasuke frowned. _So much for demonic bodyguard._

They returned to the old white door and Gato placed his hand on the door. It glowed white after a few seconds and the man turned his key, unlocking the door. All four went in and Sasuke made his three followers fall asleep, he tied them together and shoved them into a corner.

He turned to the room, humming. Taking off his backpack to retrieve the storage scrolls and Sasuke began sealing up all the gold and various items. There were weapons, ornaments, scrolls, jewelry and some fancy items he didn't know the name of. He continued to hum for a while until he encountered something on a shelf that made him pause in his song.

Scrolls. More acutely _Summoning scrolls_.

He scanned the scrolls for anything special.

Sasuke grinned.

 _Jackpot._

* * *

"Well. Well. What do we have here?" a man stepped out from the shadow in one of the corners, his words rolling with self confidence. His yellow, slitted eyes looked them over and he grinned like a Cheshire cat. "A pair of mice?"

Naruto and Hinata stopped in their tracks, both seeing or feeling something different but equally terrifying in the man. Naruto felt a shiver crawl up his back at the emotions he was perceiving from the man. He was too omnipotent, it was like he was an extension of nature.

While Naruto marveled at his presence, Hinata saw his chakra. He had even bigger and brighter chakra than Naruto, something she had never seen before, not even the Hokage had more chakra than her crush. _How did I not see him!?_

"Cat got your tongue?" He asked, his grin widening to impossible lengths.

Naruto snarled at the self satisfied man, creating a few shadow clones - few for Naruto which meant he created enough to fill the corridor in orange. "CHARGE!" they screamed, some attacked barehanded, others with kunai or daggers made of wind.

Hinata took the distraction with open arms and dragged Naruto away from his rapidly disappearing clones. She whirled around to face him. "Sasuke told me you had a combination move. Fire and wind, right?"

"Yes- but Sasuke isn't here," Naruto said. "So it's not going to help.

"I can use some fire jutsu, start and I'll follow." Hinata hurried, the man had already removed the clones, but he had decided to stand back and wait for what they would do.

He was playing with them. Why did they get enemies that was so far out of their league to fight?

"That could work," Naruto nodded cutely. "Alright."

"Are you done trying to make plans?" The man asked loudly, scratching his black hair lazily. "I'm getting grey hairs here."

Naruto stared determinedly at her and nodded once. He began making hand seals, and then he jumped out, facing the dark haired man. Naruto swung his arms around in a circular pattern and before long, he had created a violently spinning tornado inside the confined space of the hallway. It blasted into the walls, ripping of the tapestry and it made a horrifying screeching noise at the impact. The tornado cut slightly into Naruto's clothes, leaving his skin relatively unharmed except for a few tiny paper cuts.

"Oh?" the man asked curiously, his clothes were slapping around him, getting sucked into the mini tornado.

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed so she could hear it over the loud noise.

She sprung out into the winds proximity and put her hand around her mouth. She blew a ball of fire at the tornado as Naruto pushed out with his hands, making the swirling wind fly towards the man as Hinata ignited it. She could faintly hear the back of her mind thinking about how the combination jutsu would be dangerous inside.

Naruto turned around, grabbing Hinata as he pulled her to the ground. An explosion rung above her, fire spreading out over their bodies. "This is usually done outside," he gritted out and looked worriedly at her. "Your nose is bleeding, did you get hurt?"

"Um! N-no! Don't worry about me!" Hinata stuttered, blush turning her face an embarrassing shade of red as she carefully shoved Naruto off her.

The fire was still going above them and they carefully pushed themselves behind the corner again. Once they were in a fire free zone, they stood up.

Hinata looked out at the still going blazing fire in amazement. "Sasuke didn't tell me it would do _that_."

"It's amazing," Naruto said, his hand reaching carefully towards the fire almost longingly. "You should have seen it when I did it with Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei and Sakura had to use their best water jutsu to put it out again."

"I can't imagine the two of you doing _anything_ in small quantities when it comes to destruction." Hinata comentet.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah."

"I think it's marvelous." Another voice commented.

Hinata startled, jumping into action when the man had again appeared out of nowhere. This time he was on the offensive, with a fist aimed at Naruto. She pushed her crush out of the way, but the man wasn't done and he kicked her in the stomach.

The last thing she noticed as she was getting thrown into the blazing fires of their combination jutsu, was Naruto's demonic screaming.

* * *

Sasuke looked up when the underground building shook, an inhuman roar rang through his head and he faltered slightly. "What. was. that?" _is that you Naruto? Hinata?_

"I don't know." human puppet number one answered, having woken up while Sasuke packed up all Gato's treasures.

"I didn't ask you," Sasuke replied, making them shut up.

The ground continued to shake. He needed to quicken up, even if he had to balance a bit on the edge of his moral compass.

* * *

Kakashi jumped back from the staff, groaning in annoyance. Why was she there? Shouldn't Zabuza have kept her busy while he fought the other one? He looked around for a split second, easily noticing Zabuza trying to pull the Kubikiribocho from where it was stuck in the bridge.

He rolled his shoulders and drew two kunai to intercept the woman's staff when she turned from her comrade to attack him. Kakashi was pushed back, his sandals scraping on the wet bridge.

 _She's strong!_

Kakashi jumped back, putting lightning into his kunai. The threw the weapon and she moved to hit the kunai off course. It cut into her staff like a hot knife through butter and separated it into two. The kunai continued its course and cut into her surprised face, creating a rift on her left cheek.

"Wha- how-" she stammered in disorientation until her confusion was swapped with burning anger. "I'm going to pull your fucking brain out of your nose!"

 _Oh dear._ Kakashi winced when she furiously attacked him with her remaining staff, her movement becoming more and more smooth and unpredictable. A blue aura suddenly surrounded her, materialising her furious state of mind into the real world. _Now I've done it. I should just have killed her._

" _Die!_ " She screamed, kicking the stump Kakashi cut off at him. Kakashi froze in shock at the incoming object, Obito's Sharingan following its movement easily enough and both his eyes widened when the staff piece began expanding.

Kakashi threw his hands up when it exploded, zipping off his vest in a second and body flickered away from the following eksplosion.

 _Why would she be so angry if she was going to blow it up anyway!?_ Kakashi looked out from behind one of the pillars. Kurenai was gone, the bridge builder with her. She was bringing the client back to safety on the mainland with Kiba and Shino.

Zabuza had finally gotten his sword free from the bridge and was currently in close combat with Hana, sword vs sword. He parried her sword to the side, bringing it into the bridge. He cut upwards towards her head but she jumped back before Zabuza could be successful.

He looked back to his own smirking opponent. She was looking at his ruined vest for any evidence of his survival. She kicked it and Kakashi winced at the large hole burned into it. _That's going to cost a lot to replace._

Sakura screamed in the distance- or was it Yuuka? While they had begun to differ in appearance, because of different training, they still had the exact same voice. He needed to get it over with quickly, the boy might have been stronger even than Kakashi had him pegged at.

Her scream choked off.

Kakashi gathered his chakra when Karen turned her back on him and the sound of thousands of birds chirping filled the area. He sprung from his hiding place and thrust his hand into her back, hitting her spine with his gloved hand. Kakashi felt the bones crumble against his fingers and the woman died almost instantly, going limp on his arm.

He carefully shoved her of him, ignoring the squelch of her flesh and looked at his hand when she crumbled on bridge. The blood from her lifeless body painted the bridge red. _Well that was fun…_

Hana screamed at her friend's death as she threw Zabuza away with a strength most shinobi never reached. He slammed into the bridge, leaving Kakashi alone on the bridge with the grief stricken woman.

 _...onto the next one._ Kakashi sighed, he hated using others grief as a weapon. He always felt dirty when he did that but he needed the fight over quickly, something was happening with Sakura, and Zabuza was obviously outmatched if his unconscious state was anything to go by.

* * *

Sakura swung herself out over the edge, twisting herself so she could stick to underside. She looked up- or down, watching the waves roll past the pillars holding up the bridge. Sakura made the hand seals and the water above her stirred, forming the shapes of several dolphin heads.

She swung up again, the water dolphins following close behind her. She peeked over the edge, winded as she watched Yuuka fight the boy. She jumped up behind one of the pillars and formed the last seals necessary to complete the jutsu.

 _They're coming!_

Yuuka jumped back from Kenji, throwing kunai at him before bodyflikering away. Then the dolphins came, they soared at him. Some smashed into the bridge, others flew past him and turned around to continue the assault.

Sakura focused her chakra and the water dolphins began picking up speed. One of them zoomed into Kenji, the dolphin exploded at the impact, spreading out water as he was thrown to the ground. The first dolphin was followed by closely by the rest, Kenji swung his body around and they smashed into an invisible wall of air.

 _ **Damn it!**_ Yuuka growled in frustration. _**Why is that ass hole so fucking strong!**_

Sakura raised her bow and nocked a special arrow, waiting as Kenji turned around, looking towards the side Sakura had sent her Dolphins from. "Girls should be at home!" he shouted. "Give up and maybe I'll not destroy your pretty faces as I send you home where you can be where you _belong_!"

 _Ass hole._ Sakura released her arrow and moved away from her position, not waiting to look if she hit.

Kenji screamed horsley from where she knew he had stood. Sakura had hit him. She stopped and looked out, breathing a sigh of relief. There was a web of lighting, originating from the arrow, holding him down to the bridge. It was a special arrow Kakashi-sensei and Naruto had helped make from one of Kakashi's many jutsus.

 _ **Alright!**_ Yuuka went in for Kenji, a dagger of fire in her hands. She stopped over him, stabbing down towards his neck, going for the kill. Kenji's hands twitched.

 _Stop!_ Sakura panicked. _Don't!_

It was too late. Kenji's hand flashed up though the net of lighting, completely ignoring the pain he should have been in. He grabbed Yuuka's arm and she screamed in pain as he rose from the ground. "Women." he said as Yuuka tried to punch him and he grabbed her other arm, holding her in place.

Sakura hurried, shooting arrows at Kenji as quickly she could. His eyes meet hers for a brief second and before Sakura knew it, Kenji had twisted Yuuka's arm around, shoving her dagger of fire into her face. "Shouldn't be on the battlefield." he continued.

 _ **AAAARRHHHH!**_ Yuuka screamed and Sakura gasped, dropping her bow as she digged the palm of her hand into her right eye when it's pain sensors flared up.

Kenji twisted Yuuka's arm, letting her go as he jumped away from Sakura's arrows while shoving Sakura's other half into the crossfire. Yuuka was hit twice, once in her left arm and once in her lower back. Sakura felt a small pressure, like someone poked her in the places Yuuka had been hit.

Kenji turned towards Sakura, walking up to her curiously. "You're feeling her pain," he observed and grinned. "You're connected."

Sakura struggled, grabbing her bow. She tried to aim her bow at him and he kicked it out of her hands. "None of that. Girls shouldn't touch weapons," He frowned down at Sakura and stepped on her stomach, leaning over he took an arrow from her quiver. "Thanks."

He stepped of her, dragging her out where she could see Yuuka. He left her and began making hand seals as he approached Yuuka. Kenji looked back at Sakura watching her curiously as he finished his hand seals and he looked down at the silent but shaking Yuuka. First he stabbed the arrow into Sakura's screaming counterpart and when nothing happened to Sakura, he took a step back. The air rippled around him, Yuuka began bleeding heavily, the air cutting into her with invisible blades.

A raw scream escaped them simultaneously at the agonising pain until Yuuka stopped, going silent. Sakura stopped too, after a while. The pain disappearing completely from her body and she sighed in relief, her limbs going limp.

She looked up at Yuuka's unmoving body, the real world suddenly seemed so far away as she stared at her chest, willing it to begin moving. _Yuuka…?_ Her mind searched for the familiar presence. But there was nothing to find. There was no response, no feeling of comfort, just emptiness.

And no Yuuka.

Sakura screamed again.

* * *

"I think it's marvelous."

Naruto was pushed out of the way, his body slamming into the wall just besides the rampaging fire. The air left his lungs and he looked up to see Hinata get kicked in her stomach. She was launched backwards, her mouth forming a silent scream as her body entering the flames of their combination jutsu.

Everything stilled around him and Naruto was certain he could hear someone screaming. Naruto saw red, his mind shattered.

No **no** no _no no_ _ **no**_ _no anger no- Hinata_ _ **Hinata**_ _-_ Sasuke's _best_ _ **friend**_ friend _friend._ Fire _fire_ _ **fire**_ _**hate**_ _fire. He was going to_ die _! die_ _ **die**_ _die murder_ _ **die**_ _. Make_ him _spill blood! Blood_ _ **blood**_ _no_ no _no. Best friend!_ His _-_ _**kill**_ _kill kill. Burn_ _ **burn**_ _kill_ kill!

The world burned, the fire was licking his skin, engulfing him in a burning blanket of pure rage.

Kill _kill_ **burn** _kill_ _kill_!

He snarled, his blue eyes turning red as red chakra bubbled out from his skin, starting around his stomach. A tail formed behind him, swinging in irritated patterns.

"What are you!?" the man asked loudly and Naruto launched himself at him, going for the blood in his throat.

 _ **Time to… spill some blood kid.**_

* * *

 _ **Next chapter: Hello from the other side.**_

* * *

Author's note:

Alright people - if anyone has an idea for summoning animals please tell me, I already have something planned and Sasuke's summoning is off limits. But if anyone has a really good idea for Naruto, Sakura/Yuuka and Hinata then spill the beans because if I like them more than the one I already have I'll change them. (I can't and won't change Sasuke's- that would mean I had to rewrite large parts of chapter 18)

Fighting chapters never really turn out that long in my opinion. They always seem to fall short for me. Eh maybe it's because there isn't all that much dialogue.

* * *

No review answering this time… sorry guys! But thanks for them all! They really help me with motivation and you guys seem to really like Itachi.


	17. Chapter 17: Hello from the other side

_I don't own Naruto. Why would I?_

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Hello from the other side.**

* * *

"Can you go get it?" Sasuke asked minion number two, knowing that he would comply even it he hadn't said it as a request. Sasuke tilted his head to the side as spit flew past his face and he looked back at Gato with a raised eyebrow.

"I won't fall for your pitiful attempts to make me do what you want." He spat at Sasuke angrily and wiggled, trying to get out of the rope Sasuke had tied him with.

The ground shook again and a loud roar could be heard in the distance as the few items Sasuke had decided to leave fell down to the floor.

Gato paled, "What was that!?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know, ignore it," _what is happening with you two?_ He wondered, looking absentmindedly at the wall. He looked back to Gato, "But you're going to do what I want anyway. Do you know why?"

Gato scowled, his eyes burning with hate. "Why?"

Sasuke smiled his best 'I'm a creepy mother fucker smile,' "Because I have something you don't."

Gato paled even more at his smile, if that was even possible,"What's that?" he finally asked.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, "Glowing eyes of mind control, see those guys?" He paused for effect and pointed to minion number one. "he's under my control, I can make them do anything. Do jumping jacks." _not entirely true but it'll do._

Zombie minion number one stood up obediently and began jumping on the spot, fulfilling Sasuke's order without complaint. He stopped again at Sasuke's command and sat down in the same spot he had been sitting in earlier.

Gato looked at him, "Then why haven't you just made me sign it over?"

Sasuke waved at the air, his eyes closing, "I can't make you do something you'd never do. But I didn't tell you that to make you feel safe, because you see. I have this moral compass, but _if_ Mister minion number one hurts you. That's not really me? Is it?"

Minion number one stood up silently, taking a fancy looking knife from a shelf besides him. The ground shook again, it didn't stop, continuing in one long succession of smaller quakes. Number one stumbled slightly as he approached Gato, knife at the ready.

"What- what are you doing?!" Gato demanded and minion number two finally returned, handing over a paper to Sasuke. He glanced over the contract with his Sharingan, memorizing every detail.

Sasuke grinned flippantly as he placed the paper on a table, _sign it over, sing it over, sign it over._ He prayed inside _,_ "Well. I'm not doing anything, it's all number one here. I guess your workers don't really like you that much huh?"

Number one continued and Gato tried to get out of his binding. "Stop!"

Sasuke put a hand to his ear when the shaking finally stopped. "What!?" he shouted. "I couldn't hear you over the shaking!"

"St-stop!" Gato repeated.

Sasuke shrugged again and pointed to Number one. "Hey don't say that to me, say it to him."

"I-" Gato protested when the knife was just a few centimeters from his skin. "I-I'll do it!"

 _That was close!_ Sasuke made number one return to his corner as he breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped away the sweat on his forehead as Gato closed his eyes in fear. _Two more seconds and he would have been able to call my bluff._

"Are you going to sign over your company then?" Sasuke crouched down by Gato and showed the contract.

"Ye-yes!" Gato screamed, looking around wildly. "just get him away from me!"

"He's already gone." Sasuke pointed out and released Gatos right arm from his bindings. He shoved a pen in his hand and put the contract in front of him.

Gato signed quickly, and Sasuke thanked him quietly, taking it to fill in his part. He finished signing his name and sealed it away to use later. He laughed in relief. "Thanks, I wouldn't have known what to do if you had called my bluff. That would have been terrible. For me at least."

"You- you weren't going to hurt me!?" Gato demanded hotly, his fist shaking in anger.

"Of course not. I have morals you know." Sasuke replied, bringing his hand up to Gato's sweaty forehead. _Ew. Sticky._

"Danm yo-" Gato growled but was knocked out by Sasuke before being able to finish.

 _Let's go find Naruto and Hinata._

Mister Shadow didn't reply.

 _...I'm just going to act like I actually have someone to talk to._

* * *

Kakashi observed Hana for a moment, a small second and body flickered over to her, his hand warped with deadly lightning. She bend under his hand, her back bending at an unnatural angle. They were quick to engage in taijutsu, their limbs flashing around as they both aimed for vital areas to kill the other first. Kakashi slowly moved her back towards her dead friend and he took the chance when she flinched at the sight of Karen lifeless body. He struck out, his kunai pricing Hana's stomach - going through to the other side, mixing more blood on his arm - in her brief moment of weakness.

She looked at him wide eyed and shakily brought her hands up to his face, he grabbed one of them and she tried to bend his head to the side in an attempt to snap his neck. Kakashi pulled out of her, and she fell down besides her friend, dead.

Kakashi's eye spun around and he jumped quickly, the wind flattening his hair down to his scalp, going for Sakura and Yuukas location. The moment he landed, juat before he could foucus, he heard another terrified scream.

He stopped and stared numbly for a total of one second, the scene he arrived to etching its way into his mind to stay forever, reminding him of something he had experienced too many times.

The death of a teammate.

Something that should never had happened again. It was why he had trained _so hard_ -with Gai nonetheless - the past couple of months, because he _knew_ , _he knew_ he'd get attached.

But he lost one anyway.

It was Yuuka. The untrained eye wouldn't be able to tell them apart, that was their strategy, but Yuuka was more muscular and she had slightly longer hair too.

And she was dead, she only made a few twitches Kakashi knew was from the connected nerves she had left. While not everyone would be able to tell her apart from Sakura, they would definitely be able to tell that she was very much dead. Laying in a puddle of blood and insides, her body cut by thousands and thousands of blades, both big and small.

Kakashi looked away, knowing he would never forget the sight of her mauled body, to glare at the boy who did the act.

Kenji was sitting on Sakura, poking her cheeks with one hand as she senselessly screamed. With his other hand he was spinning around one of Sakura's arrows, one that burned when activated if Kakashi remembered correctly.

Kakashi jumped, appearing behind the boy, Kakashi flung a lightning enhanced kunai at the back of his head. It stopped mid air and turned around, flying back the way it came from.

 _What!?_

Kakashi caught the kunai as it flew past his face and looked at it. He looked up at the boy who hadn't even noticed the strange event and put fire into the special metal instead. It stopped the same place as before and the fire surrounding it blazed up, expanding out around Kenji, getting enchanted by the wind chakra protecting the boy.

He jerked up from Kakashi's student, finally noticing that he was getting attacked. He jumped away, the fire following after him like a homing cloud of well deserved fiery death.

Kakashi moved quickly, removing Sakura and Yuuka from the immediate vicinity as the fire burst out from Kenji, disapparating. Kenji clenched the arrow he no doubt had stolen from Sakura in his hand without breaking the wood. "So those two are dead?" he asked, trying to make small talk with Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't care, jumping behind the boy, he slipped down to the ground and spun his legs out under Kenji's wind elemental defence. Kakashi flipped the boy's legs up under him, and he fell down, the protecting air around him cutting deep rifts in the bridge. Kakashi threw another kunai, this time it had a seal on it, at kenji when he jumped back and it hit exactly where Kakashi wanted it to.

The boy screamed, letting Kakashi enjoy his petty vengeance for a few moments before he decided to just get it over with. Walking over to Kenji, the boy finally decided that attempting to escape was more important than screaming in pain. He hastily pulled the kunai out of his leg and the wound closed almost instantly. _Must be a lost Uzumaki…_ Kakashi thought as he watched the skin knit back together.

Kenji looked up at Kakashi with fearful eyes and he tried to stand up but the seal kakshi had used made it impossible for the boy to stand. "WAIT!" he screamed, throwing his hands out in desperation, the air sharpened around him and attacked Kakashi.

Kakashi sidestepped the attack with ease and continued his approach. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Kenji screamed, pushing himself backwards with his arms, trying to get away. As a last ditch effort, he threw Sakura's arrow and Kakashi caught it, channeling some water chakra into his hand to stop it's fire effect. It made a sizzling sound, the wood going wet.

"No," Kenji muttered in fear, he crawled the last distance to the edge before he turned furious, stopping his escape. "This is those bitches fault! Why did I trust those two _women_ with a man's job!? It's their fucking fault!"

Kakashi stopped in front of him and observed the spitting boy. "It's your own fault," he said calmly, "it became your fault the moment you laid a hand on my students." With his last piece said, Kakashi stepped down on the boy's skull, pressing down until it gave after and Kakashi's sandal touched the bridge. _It doesn't matter who you're related to, if you hurt my comrades… You're_ dead _._

He looked up at the red sky and put his other sandal underneath Kenji's body, rolling him over the edge. Kakashi looked down at his foot and began to clean it from blood to the best of his ability in one of the larger puddles.

* * *

What Sasuke saw when he found Naruto and Hinata could only be explained as mayhem, the walls were torn up, rubble littered the bloody floor and everything was scorched. But there was no sight of Hinata or Naruto.

He wiped a finger over the burnt surface of the walls and looked at it. _So they used it…_ The exploding tornado, the combination jutsu he had with Naruto.

That he didn't have to be present for.

Sasuke stepped over a puddle of blood, wincing at the red color. His mind flashed back to what happened weeks earlier. _That brings back unpleasant memories…_

"Come on…" Sasuke muttered, looking for any clue he could find. "where are you…"

"Sasuke?" a hoarse but familiar voice asked hesitantly and a flash of red - too bright to be another puddle of blood - caught his attention.

"Naruto!" he hissed, stepping away from his teammate when he suddenly launched himself at him, his body covered in some strange red _gel_ shaped like some long tailed bunny. He wondered briefly if it was edible "What the hell are you doing!?"

" **Sasuke!"** Naruto snarled at him, jumping onto a burnt wall on all fours. He jumped off the wall and it shattered behind him as he tried to punch a hole in Sasuke's head.

"Woa! Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed as he drove out of the way, smashing his shoulder into a wall, he winced. That ruled out the possibility that Naruto had mistaken him for an enemy.

Sasuke leaped up to his feet and brought his hands up in a calming gesture. "Hey… I don't know what whoever did this did. But I know you can overcome this stuff. Right?"

Naruto seemed to falter for a second and he growled lowly, the sound resonating around the broken building like a sinister echo. " **Uchiha… scum…** "

"Uhhh…" Sasuke backed away, his back touching a wall. "Uchiha scum?"

Naruto jumped at him again and Sasuke threw his body away, deactivating his Sharingan. He locked eyes with Naruto's red slitted ones. "Hey! Hey!" he gestured to his dark eyes. "Look! It _Sasuke_ your friend. I'm your friend!"

" **Sasu** … ke?" Naruto's eyes flickered blue and the red gel began disappearing into the air until Naruto was barren. Naruto then fell down, his face smacking directly into a puddle of blood.

"Well that was great." Sasuke said out loud, rubbing his shoulder. He picked Naruto up and did a quick check up on him to make sure he wasn't in life threatening danger. When he only found a few burns and cuts, Sasuke left him to find Hinata. He made a shadow clone to watch over Naruto, just in case anything happened or changed.

He eventually found Hinata, her body was badly burnt and her clothes were almost completely gone, burnt up by what Sasuke guessed was the Exploding tornado.

He immediately made yet another shadow clone and they both began working on her burns.

* * *

She looked around, desperately searching for _something._ She didn't know what it was, was it a person? Was it an animal? A friend or an enemy? An item? Or was she searching for something entirely different? Why was she even searching in the first place? Who was she?

She didn't know.

A face flashed past her, a boy, bight as the sun smiling in joy as he told her something. He was soon replaced by a dulling sun, his bring light dieing out as his eyes suited closed in an attempt to stop the falling tears. He was joined by a desperate boy, the shadow to the light.

"Hello?" she asked.

A tree stood out on the other side, it's pink petals falling slowly, getting caught in the small breeze. As the Sakura petals slowly fell the trunk began withering, it's bark turned a sickly black. She took a step back, turning her head from the tree, unable to watch it's slow and painful death.

The sun and the shadow was gone, replaced by another Sakura tree. This one was in full bloom, reflecting more colors than she thought possible. Yet despite its beauty, it seems sad at the others slow death.

A woman walked up to her, she was smiling, telling her something secret as she took her hand, placing it on her stomach. The shadow appeared again standing by the woman like a silent guard. They talked to her, but she couldn't hear what was being said.

"What are you saying?" she asked desperately.

The shadow and the woman disappeared in a flash of light, "I don't know." a voice said behind her.

She turned around, hair whipping past her face (pink?), looking at the pink haired girl. "Who-" she hesitated. The feeling of searching was _gone._ She had been looking for this girl, looking for her innocent green eyes.

"I'm Sakura," she- Sakura said, understanding her cut off question perfectly. She nodded her pink head and looked past her face, staring sadly at something behind her. "You're dying." Sakura shook her head sadly.

She turned around, put off by Sakura's comment and looked at the slowly dying tree behind her. "Yeah, it is."

"No," Sakura said gently and cupped her cheek, ignoring her flinch at the touch. "You're dying." Sakura looked back at the beautiful tree behind her, her lips twitched.

"I'm the tree?" she asked, getting the meaning behind Sakura's words.

"Are you?" Sakura asked instead of confirming her question.

"That's what I asked."

Sakura sidestepped her silently and walked over to the dying tree, she placed a hand on its bark and closed her eyes. "Do you want to die?" she whispered and turned back towards her. "Do you?"

"Yes," She replied automatically before she consciously knew what she wanted. She panicked, "I mean-" she closed her mouth and frowned.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked as she traced the lines on the tree, watching as death slowly spread out under her fingers. "Do you want to take my place?" Sakura asked when she did not reply.

"No." she replied, puzzled at how easily the answer came to her despite not knowing anything about anything.

Sakura smiled at her and she only grew more confused when she gestured for her to join her by the tree. She obeyed, taking what felt like thousands of steps until she reached the rotten tree. "Touch it." Sakura promoted gently. She hesitated, unsure of the consequences and Sakura decided to gently lift her hand up to the bark.

She didn't resist and images flashed in her mind the moment she touched the tree. She pulled back as if burned and slapped a hand to her right eye, feeling the dull stinging.

"Wha-what?" She asked and looked at Sakura, her memories returning like they had never been gone in the first place. She was silent, leaning against the black tree. "You're not Saku-" Yuuka stopped, noticing something she had missed before. How could she have missed something so _obvious?_ "You're _me_."

Sak- _She_ smiled closing her one usable eye and traced the healed horrid scar on her face. "Sakura will come for you soon." She said and looked back at the tree, hiding her face as her body began becoming intangible.

Yuuka stepped forward, reaching out to her in the hopes of getting answers before she could disappear. "Why are there another one of us now!? How do you exist!?" she shouted, her hand going through an arm.

"She's here." the other said and she disappeared completely, leaving Yuuka alone with the dying tree.

The world turned black.

* * *

Naruto blinked and frowned, staring up into the two red eyes that was staring creepily at him a few centimeters from his face. His eyes widened in shock and he immediately shoved Sasuke off him.

"Don't stare at me like that!" Naruto scrambled away from Sasuke, breathing deeply.

"Jeez, relax. I don't eat blonde humans," Sasuke replied sarcastically as he leered at him, licking his lips. "Only the brown haired ones …or the pink ones… I love the pink ones, they taste of bubblegum."

"Uhhh…" Naruto wiped his face and frowned at the blood on his hands. "What happened?" he cleaned his hand on his pants and looked around at the destruction. The only thing he remembered was Hinata falling into their jutsu, and then _anger_. So, so much raw _anger_.

A speck of red bubbled out from his hand as his mind flashed back to before he lost consciousness.

"Eh," Sasuke shrugged, taking a barely noticeable step back, his eyes looking everywhere but on his hand. "Something made you want to kill me and the original went out looking for Hina. Oh! And I got everything we needed."

 _Did I kill Hinata? Did the Kyuubi overtake me? Did I hurt you? Is the seal still stable? I didn't do anything to it so why did the Kyuubi consume me? Do you want another team? Do you hate me now you know? What happened? Did I kill someone? Did the Kyuubi? Why are you so calm? Did I hurt anyone? Are you scared?_

But Sasuke didn't feel scared, just wary and amused.

"You got _everything_?" Naruto asked instead, rubbed his face clean with his sleeves. "And I tried to _kill_ you?"

"Well yes," Sasuke tilted his head to the side with a smirk, "Though I guess I was being an ass earlier."

"Anyway," Sasuke said when Naruto just stared at him, his eyes narrowed in wonder. "You guys were slow, and you even passed out," Sasuke gestured to his clothes. "let's just go find the original me and regroup."

Naruto tugged at Sasuke's sleeve. "Hinata's not…" He trailed off in uncertainty. "She's not… she fell into..."

"The flames?" Sasuke continued with a raised eyebrow, he wiggled them both, making a face at him.

"You fixed her." Naruto deadpanned at his cheerful emotions.

"Yup." Sasuke grinned, satisfied with himself.

"I hate you."

"No you don't," Sasuke corrected. "Come on, let's go." he said and winced at the blood before pulling Naruto's bloody sleeve after him.

Sasuke eventually stopped, turning back to him. He put his hand on a clean spot on Naruto and wiped his fingers clean, dirtying Naruto even more. "I'm afraid this has become a 'no boy zone.'"

"You're a boy." Naruto pointed out.

"No I'm not," Sasuke said with such conviction that Naruto would have believed him if not for the fact he was a _guy._ "Anyway, I'm the medic, so that means I'm the one who's looking at naked people on a regular basis. So it's a 'Naruto free zone.'"

"She's _naked_?" Naruto hissed.

Sasuke leaned back and looked behind the corner. "Why yes, I'd say she is," He said and looked at him. "No peeking." he growled.

"But I didn't-" Except he was just about to ask Sasuke…

"You like having balls right?" Sasuke asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Sasuke brought a hand around his shoulder and lead him away, he leaned in and whispered in Naruto's ear. "because if you try something… they won't appreciate what happens after…" Naruto shivered. "and that's without mentioning what will happen to your body when Hina found out..."

"I'll be good." Naruto croaked in fear.

"Good… Good..." Then Sasuke began Laughing like those villains from the movies Naruto liked.

Naruto slapped Sasuke in the face with a bloody hand as an argument for why he should stop.

* * *

Kakashi watched closely as Sakura woke up, her body seemed to be moving on its own as she stood up on her feet. She greeted him briefly before deciding that Yuuka's dead and mauled body was more important. He tried to stop her from seeing her other half in the state she was in, but Sakura ignored him silently, kneeling down by her body.

She placed her hands on Yuuka's broken form and it began disappearing, being absorbed into Sakura's hands like a sponge would suck in water.

Kakashi did his best not to scream in surprise.

Then when Yuuka was completely gone, Sakura seemed to finally snap back, her eyes widening. "Did I just-!?" she exclaimed and looked at her hands in wonder. "SHE'S ALIVE!" the pink haired girl screamed to the sky, tears of happiness steaming down her cheeks.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked, his only relatively sane student had gone mad.

It was only a matter of time until he caught their crazy too.

Sakura looked up at him in joy. "She's alive!" his student cheered and pointed to her head giddily, "she's in here! I can hear Yuuka again!"

* * *

"...Hey…" a voice said.

"...ink she twitched…" it said again, this time from another side.

"What are… blind..?"

"You're me, so that that augment is stup…"

Hinata frowned at the darkness.

"Na… peeking…" it sneered.

"Disgusting…"

"What can y… do?"

Hinata blinked dizzily, two dark shapes where speaking above her. Their voices familiar.

"Ah! Naruto-kun!" one of them squealed.

Her eyes snapped open and her fingers flashed out, fast as lightning, hitting the one that squealed square in its stomach. It disappeared and she laid down again, welcoming the darkness.

"I'm going to kiss you if you don't wake up." Sasuke's voice threatened.

She ignored him, he wasn't going to do it anyway.

"You're naked." he said and Hinata continued to ignore her friend. She wasn't naked-

Hinata's eyes sprung open and she hastily tried to cover herself when she finally felt the air on her bare body.

"No scream?" Sasuke asked as he watched her wide panicked eyes, calmly.

"Shut up!" She snapped in embarrassment and turned her a back to him. Hinata shivered and hid her face between her knees.

"...I've already seen it all before," Sasuke muttered and he held some cloth out besides her, he wiggled it briefly. "But I did get some clothes for you."

Hinata took the small stack of clothes and looked carefully at it, she turned to look at Sasuke, he had his eyes closed politely. "This is your clothes… where did you even have this?"

Sasuke grinned slowly as she began dressing herself and showed her a scroll, he shook it slightly. "I've packed a few things incase of emergencies in all the lovely scrolls our dear Naruto made."

She looked back at him, almost finished dressing herself and he opened his eyes again. "Meaning you've packed for an apocalypse…"

Sasuke looked surprised and embarrassed, his cheeks turning red as he grinned. "...Yes."

Hinata hummed, looking at the clothes Sasuke gave her in wonder. "How does this even fit?"

"It's called magic," Sasuke replied and gave her one of his red jackets. He rubbed his shoulder and winced. "or elastic if you prefer the boring version."

She looked at him, he seemed worried. "What happened with Naruto?" Hinata asked, she had suddenly woken up to a Naruto _covered_ in some _red thing_. He had been mercilessly attacking the man and the red thing had burnt her eyes, she could still feel the pain.

"What do you remember?" Sasuke asked and wiped sweat from his forehead, healing her must have taken a lot out of him.

"He was… _red."_

Sasuke looked surprised and grinned. "Covered in red gel?" he asked.

She slapped herself.

* * *

After Hinata and Sasuke had met up with Naruto they sat their sights on the bridge to provide any backup that might be necessary with an opponent like Zabuza. Sasuke had - like Hinata had expected - stayed behind, his annoying fear of heights making him unable to follow them. So they had gone alone and had been immediately assaulted by Sakura.

"What? why the hugs?" Naruto asked confused, did something go wrong?

"Where's Sasuke-kun?" She asked immediately.

Naruto froze and looked at Kakashi, who had Zabuza thrown over his shoulder, then at Sakura. "Where's Yuuka?"

Sakura smiled and tapped her head, her expression suddenly changed. "I'm right here Naruto-kun."

Naruto released a high pitched sound, and his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted. His body was caught by Kakashi before his head could slam into the ground.

"What?" Yuuka asked, looking down at the unconscious boy. She nudged a foot against his leg and frowned in confusion.

"Ah- Yuuka-san," Hinata drew her attention, she was holding a finger to her right eye. "your eye…"

"My eye…?" Yuuka asked and put a hand to said eye, only to stop, her one eye widening in shock. "No!" she screamed, and patted her face. Her hand was covered in blood when she withdrew it.

Kakashi hefted Naruto over his unoccupied shoulder. "Let's go see Sasuke."

Yuuka nodded with a wince and they sped along the bridge, stopping only a meter from Sasuke's back. Kakashi put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

" _Holy shit!"_ Sasuke exclaimed, jumping into the air as he whirled around, a Fire dagger in his hand to attack. "Damit guys…" he hissed when he saw them, canceling the jutsu.

"Sasuke, Yuuka!" Hinata said quickly and Sasuke looked over at the girl, immediately slapping a glowing hand on her face.

"So how did it go?" Kakashi asked, ignoring Sasuke's look when he saw Naruto and Zabuza hanging from his shoulders.

"I got the guy tied up for the villagers Mister teacher guy," Sasuke replied, distracted by the strange way Yuuka's eye was behaving. "Where's Sakura?"

"She's in Yuuka- or Yuuka is in Sakura." Hinata replied.

"Well that explains a lot," Sasuke winced, removing his hand from her eye. "Can you split up? There isn't anything for me to heal- I can see the burn and everything, but the medical jutsu is getting confused- it's like you're completely fine. I'm guessing that's Sakura."

"We can try." It was strange how her expression suddenly was changed, replaced with Sakura's- he thought it was Sakura at least. Sasuke cringed, it was unnerving to experience two people in one body.

Sakura closed her eyes, the injury completely gone with sakura in control but the small amount of blood on her face staying where it was. The skin on her arm bubbled and smoke exploded out from Sakura.

They were both there when the smoke disappeared and Sasuke put his hand on Yuuka's eye.

He frowned.

"What's wrong Mister I'm scared of a small bridge?" Kakashi asked.

"Thought long about that one?" Sakura asked the man.

"No- I am a genius after all!" Kakashi smiled at her when Sasuke put another hand on Yuuka's face. He pushed against her hair, twirling it around his fingers.

"Strange…" he mused, grinding a few strands between his fingers.

"What's wrong now?" Yuuka asked.

"Welp," Sasuke put his hands up and shrugged. "Seems like I can't heal you…" he looked over at Sakura. "Can you cut yourself for a moment?"

"Eh?"

"You know- for experimentation!" Sasuke crackled insanely and Hinata tapped his stomach harshly. "Guh!" he doubled over, falling to the ground.

"Shut up i slave- I didn't even use chakra."

Sasuke rolled over. "But master! I am so weak an ant could knock me down!"

Hinata made a show of sighing. "I forgive you my slave."

"Um-" Sakura interrupted their little role play and Hinata squeaked- she had completely forgotten they weren't alone, Hinata turned red. "right- so I cut myself. Is this enough?" Sakura asked and stuffed her bleeding finger up to Sasuke's face.

"That's fine." Sasuke replied and healed the small cut in seconds.

"Does that mean I can never be healed?" Yuuka asked.

"it would certainly seem so- but it's not like you'd need it when you can just go back into Sakura. You might actually be immortal- just with a few limitations - like Sakura's own mortality," Kakashi theorised, "Regardless- we still have to be careful, you seem to share pain under certain conditions."

Sasuke smirked, his eyes turing red. "Maybe we should experiment a bit- find out what makes the two of you tick?"

Hinata put a hand on his face.

"Stop it- we don't experiment on friends" She lectured

"Yes oh master."

Sakura coughed. "We don't mind."

"Really!?" Sasuke saw stars.

"Yes."

"But I don't want to." Sasuke complained.

"Then why did you ask!?" Sakura screeched, her hair standing up.

"Umm..." He looked away from them to look at Zabuza, sasuke pointed at the man. "Want me to get him up?"

"That would be nice." Kakashi said and turned around so Sasuke could get access to the unconscious man. Kakashi watched over his shoulder as Sasuke healed the man, Rukia had clearly done a great job with his training. It was very rare to find a genin with those kinds of medial competences in the peaceful times they lived in. It wasn't just Sasuke- his whole team were better than genin were expected to be.

"There." Sasuke flicked the man's face.

Zabuza woke up and growled, noticing his position, "Hey Hatake. Put me down."

"Maa Zabuza..." Kakashi drawled, "I thought you liked me. Don't give me mixed signals."

"Hey-" Sasuke put his face in Zabuza's, "Does that mean you and Kakashi are boyfriends now?" He grinned.

"If I wasn't this injured you'd be dead brat." He snarled, killing intent washing over Sasuke.

"Sorry Sasuke," Kakashi apologised and let Zabuza down, "But Zabuza is immune to my advances..."

"Ah that's too bad..." Sasuke muttered, walking over to the other side of Kakashi, where Zabuza couldn't strangle him. He put a glowing hand to Naruto's hair after Kakashi put him down. "He'd be such a nice dad."

"You're dead." Zabuza growled, and froze slightly. his muscles tensing when he felt a sharp object touch his back.

"Stop or _you're_ dead."

Yuuka had an arrow pointed at him, ready to be released into his spine. She glared coldly at him.

"So you're not all pussys then..." Zabuza grinned with bloodlust, "Only bat shit crazy."

"Huh?" Naruto woke up and looked at zabuza in surprise at his bloodlust. _Who's that?_ He wondered and narrowed his eyes when he noticed Yuuka pointing an arrow at him. "Hey you! stop with that bloodlust you- you- bandage face!"

"What did you say brat!?"

" _That's_ Zabuza." Sasuke whispered to Naruto.

"You're Haku's dad!?" Naruto Shouted in surprise, "But you're an asshole!"

"Haku is not my child- she's my tool."

"Jeez. way to be an asshole." Sasuke muttered.

"But Haku loves you!" Naruto protested.

"Ne, Naruto- stop bothering the man." Kakashi said softly. It wouldn't do if Zabuza decided that their temporary alliance was too troublesome. Even if Kakashi was better than him- the genin certainly wasn't close.

Naruto wasn't satisfied and stuck his tongue out at him. Sasuke poked it before he could hide it inside his mouth and laughed.

Hinata spoke up. "Kurenai-Sensei and the others are coming." True enough, Kurenai had gotten Pakkun's message to meet them by the bridge with Haku.

Zabuza and Haku's reunion was awkward. At least Sasuke thought it awkward, they just greeted each other with stoic professionalism, checking if the other was safe. _Even_ Sasuke wasn't that awkward.

"Come on!" Naruto shouted, "Hug, Damit!"

"Brat," Zabuza growled, "We're not pus-"

He didn't get to continue as Haku was taken by the moment and hugged Zabuza, making the man release a noise of surprise.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered when Zabuza very awkwardly returned the hug. He held up a hand and Sasuke took the cue, high fiving him.

* * *

"My bridge…" the old man sobbed, thick tears running down from his eyes as his nose ran. He turned around, furiously pointing at Kakashi and his team. "You- you weeeere sup… osed to protect my bridgee! and- and you let those two en...mies go." he wobbled, making one of the townspeople catch him.

"Don't look at us," Kakashi smiled deceptively innocent, "We're the ones that abandoned the mission, so you should look at team Kurenai instead." He made a dramatic gesture towards the four and Hinata clicked her tongue, walking over to sit besides Sasuke.

"I'm with them." she said, blinking her large pale eyes.

Shino's insides began buzzing when the very drunk Tazuna moved over to sob on the boy's shoulder. "Whydidyoudoitgirl…" his words tumbled out of his mouth as he pet the air besides his head.

"Tazuna-san?" One of townspeople asked in confusion. "The bridge is at the harbour…"

"Don't teeeell me…" Tazuna gripped Shino's coat, using it to stabilise himself. He stumbled away from the relieved boy and crashed into a seat. "Whyyy she i-is ruined…" he sobbed.

Sasuke put his hand up. "All in favour of letting the people we don't know take care of the man?" Sasuke didn't wait, leaving the grossly crying man to his bottles. _Have some dignity man..._

Sasuke continued for a while and first stopped when he judged to be far enough away from the crying man, on the other side of the party. He looked around, noticing a distinct lack of familiar faces. _Good…_ he thought and took out the drink he'd snatched from a poor drunk woman.

* * *

"Stop fidgeting and just show us, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't fidget. Sasuke never fidgeted, his body on the other hand _did_. So it was technically not _him_ but his _body_. He forcefully stopped his movement and snapped at Yuuka in embarrassment. "I don't fidget!"

"Oh but you do." Sakura remarked, the two double teaming him.

Sasuke thought about the saddest thing he could and turned to Naruto, slightly teary eyed. "Naruto~ they're bullying me! Make them stop!" he whined, trying to hug Naruto.

Naruto slapped a hand on Sasuke's face in response, keeping his friend at arms length. Sasuke froze, scowling. "Again?" he asked then it occurred to him. "...Hinata told you. Didn't she?"

Naruto tilted his head. "it shuts you up." he replied.

Sasuke squinted at Naruto and hissed, turning away only to get another hand put on his face. It was Yuuka's this time.

"Quiet," She said arrogantly and Sasuke licked her hand in return. "Ew!" she whipped her hand away, wiping it clean on her clothes.

"Mavahahaha." Sasuke crackled dully and sipped his drink.

"Ugh, I don't get how you can drink that," Sakura complained, wincing. "You're not even old enough to drink."

"Eh." Sasuke replied, downing the rest. Alcohol didn't even work on him for more than a few minutes, it was simply too much of a poison.

"So are you going to show us or not?" Yuuka asked, bringing them back on topic.

"Uh yes-" Sasuke looked around with his sharingan and slipped of his chair when he found what he had been looking for. He bend down to pick up an insect and returned to his chair, holding out the small animal for them to see. "Here."

He turned the frantic creature around, locking eyes with it and it stopped trying to escape.

Naruto looked at it, leaning in to get a better view. "So you just pink eye it?"

"Yes basically." Sasuke replied and made the insect lift it's pretty long front legs up into the air, waving them from side to side as it stepped around.

"That's amazing…" Sakura said in wonder. "And you said you did this to _people_? That's easily low level jounin stuff."

"Not to mention nasty as hell." Yuuka remarked.

"Well the Sharingan is really useful with genjutsu, it's like-" he ignored her comment and tried to snap his fingers but no sound came out, "snap!" he said the sound effect, his ears turning slightly red, "and they're in with no way out."

"So does it…"

* * *

He should have left. He really should have, but he couldn't. He had to see him one last time, talk to him, reassure himself that everything would be alright. That Sasuke was alright.

Itachi had been shocked, something he never addmited outloud when the Hokage had requested meeting him in person, it was not an action he would have taken unless something had gone wrong. The risks of Madara finding out he still had contact to Konoha was too high.

So Itachi had gone away from Kisame for a night, meeting up with the Third who told him of what had happened to Sasuke.

Sasuke had lost his memory, he couldn't remember his family, he couldn't remember Itachi.

Itachi had been furious at first, everything he had worked for was for nothing and he had wanted to rip open the Hokage's throat - just for a few angry seconds. But he became _happy_ after a while, genuinely _happy,_ something he hadn't been in a long time. Just knowing that his brother did not hate him had cut some of the chains holding him down.

But meeting him, a happy, kind and carefree Sasuke so unlike what he had been told about his brother after Itachi had murdered their family, made them disappear completely. Sasuke was happy, it was all Itachi had wanted for his little brother. And Sasuke would be able to kill him when he eventually targeted his teammate for the tailed beast inside him, without feeling guilt from killing his brother now.

He had been hard pressed to suppress his urge to pull Sasuke into a hug but he had managed in the end.

Maybe he should have done it anyway and used some hasty excuse for why he did it.

Itachi looked up to where Sasuke was talking to the nine tails Jinjuriki, he was holding up a small insect watching it dance some complicated moves with red, fully evolved Sharingan. (how far he had come in Itachi's absence) He read his lips and shook his head in a barely noticeable gesture. Sasuke was explaining to Naruto Uzumaki how he made the small animal obey his commands.

Sasuke looked up, noticing Itachi for the first time and waved before returning to his friend.

Maybe keeping himself out of Sasuke's life would be better. Itachi turned around, a single tear slipping down his cheek as he left, vowing to never let Sasuke remember him. It would be for the better.

* * *

"That is a lot of scrolls." Yuuka said dully, her one eye watching Sasuke roll them out so they filled more space.

"I know right?" he grinned.

"And they're _all_ summoning scrolls?" Kakashi asked, he had never seen so many summoning scroll in one location - he had never seen so much money in one location since a mission when he was 19 for that matter. " _All_ of them?"

"Yes." Sasuke continued to grin but he hissed, slapping Naruto's hand when he tried to pick one up.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

"No touching…" Sasuke hissed lowly.

"I have to wonder." Sasuke said in his best formal voice and Naruto looked at him, raising an eyebrow as he kicked a small pebble away from the street.

"What did you wonder about good sir?" he asked, copying him.

"How did you convince the young lad Inari to like you?"

"What are you saying my friend?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Well you seem to be very fond of the nude women in the magazine you hide under your pillow, did you perhaps show the young boy something his mind wasn't ready for?" Sasuke teased, having caught his teammate.

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed, he hadn't expected Sasuke to say something like _that._ "No! What? Why would!?" Naruto stopped talking when he noticed Sasuke laughing at his unfortune. "You bastard! I don't even have any of those!" he hissed and began laughing himself.

"Well a lady like myself has to wonder."

"Why would you say so something like that good sir?" Naruto grinned, "are you perhaps an idiot?"

" _Hello_."

"Of course no-" Sasuke cut himself off, his jaw falling open when he registered what he just heard.

" _Hello,_ " the voice said from behind Sasuke in _English_ , he turned around slowly, his heart bumping against his lungs. There was a boy, around Sasuke's physical age, standing in an alley. He was smiling, his brown eyes stared into Sasuke like he could see right through him. Like everything Sasuke had ever done was placed as an open book before him to read. " _You've certainly been busy."_

Naruto frowned behind Sasuke. "What did you say?" he asked, not understanding the boy's words. He turned to Sasuke, seeing that Sasuke recognised the words.

" _How?"_ Sasuke asked, unable to reply differently as he ignored Naruto. The boy gave off a feeling Sasuke did not like and it took everything he had not to flee or attack. " _How are you talking English?_ "

" _I'm Mark,_ " Mark smiled and glanced at Naruto. "' _How' is the same way you ended up here. Does Naruto know?"_

Sasuke looked at his confused teammate who reacted at the mention of his name and shook his head. " _No,"_ He frowned, his eyes flashing red and he stepped in front of Naruto. " _How do you know his name? Who are you?_ "

"Sasuke? What's going on?" Naruto asked, sensing Sasuke's distrust.

" _I'm not your enemy_ ," Mark told him as he raised his hands to show that he was harmless. "I came to see Sasuke, we're both part of an exclusive club."

" _I wasn't told that there were more of us here. He didn't say that he had others here._ " Sasuke said and Naruto's confusion only increased.

"I'm not _under the same as you._ " he switched to English in the middle of his sentence with an easy going smile.

Sasuke snarled, grabbing Mark by his neck and lifted him up from the ground. Sasuke smashed him into the wall of a building. " _Why are you here?_ " Sasuke demanded hotly.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Sasuke? stop! You're choking him." he tried to peel Sasuke's fingers off the boy's throat when he gasped for air.

Sasuke ignored his friend, he didn't understand what Mark had just told him. Sasuke shouldn't even have been able to touch him, he wasn't even supposed _exist_. Something was _wrong_ and Mister Shadow wasn't even there to tell him what it was.

"Sasuke! Let him go!" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke switched his hold on the boy to hold him up by his shirt instead. " _You shouldn't be here. This is Mister Shadow's territory and you're trespassing. I'll ask again, why. Are. You. Here?"_

The boy frowned then laughed in Sasuke's face and Naruto took a step back in surprise. " _Did he even tell you anything? Did he even tell you about the_ _changes your sheer presence is making to the timeline?"_

"Why should I _care_?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke. _Care about what?_

Mark smiled, looking over at Naruto again. " _What about Naruto?_ _You could be changing his future, I can already see so many differences._ "

 _What about me?_ Naruto frowned, recognizing his name among the alien words.

Sasuke finally let go of Mark, he shoved him away from them. "Leave," He barked. "And don't come back. _I don't want my friends mixed up in all this shit. I promised to protect them._ "

Mark rubbed his throat. "I didn't come here to step on your toes, I'm on your side. So i'll give you some advice, _leave your_ friends _, find some in the same situation as you or it will only do you more harm than good,"_ he turned to leave and just before he disappeared, he whispered over his shoulder _._ "Oh and tell ' _Mister Shadow' that Dux,_ _Midori Azami_ _is still on his side."_

With his final words said, Mark turned and walked away, leaving them alone again.

"...Who's Mister Shadow?" Naruto asked.

"Hm?" Sasuke hummed absent minded as he looked after Mark. _So he wasn't the enemy he talked about..._ "Nah. He's just a mutual friend, Mark apparent knows."

"You're hiding something." Naruto pointed out.

"You're hiding something too," Sasuke yawned. "I'll tell you sometime it'll get relevant," he looked at Naruto. "will you do the same?"

"Yeah… Why not?" Naruto answered after a few moments. _I'm still me despite my secrets and Sasuke is still Sasuke, even if he's hiding something._

* * *

"So what did you think of calling it?" Sakura asked as she ignored the commotion behind the bridge builder. She was standing on the bridge with a lot of the citizens from wave who was waiting to send their new heros off. Being called a hero was very embarrassing and she blushed at the thought.

"Tazuna Bridge!" The old drunk announced excitedly.

"You can't be serious..." Yuuka groaned, "Call it… Yuuka is awesome!"

"That's no better!" Sakura screeched, "Something interesting that can be remembered in the future is better!"

"Sakura-chan is right father." Tsunami agreed.

"Gah!" Tazuna Gasped, "You're all so negative!"

Hinata walked up to them, rubbing her forehead. She sighed in exasperation and looked out towards the village. "What are you doing?"

"We're trying to make up a name for the bridge..." Sakura explained.

"What about 'The blue span'?" Hinata asked.

"The Blue span?" Tazuna looked thoughtful, "Mabye..." He muttered and shook his bootle.

"We need to get moving..." Kakashi told them and put a hand on Hinata's shoulder, looking over at the village, "Hinata- would you help?"

She looked over and sneered, "I'll get him." She narrowed her eyes and jumped over to the first post on the bridge. She looked at Sasuke, his arms were wrapped around the post and he was refusing to leave- to go onto the bridge. Naruto was trying to pull the boy off but Sasuke was clearly using his chakra to glue himself to the mainland. The post creaked under Naruto's pull and he hesitated.

"Sasuke! Stop being a scaredy cat!" Naruto screamed, he looked over at Hinata as she approached and fell silent, an evil grin appeared in his eyes.

Naruto meet her on the half way to the group of team 8 and the remaining members of team 7. "Get him off it," He whispered, "I'm counting on you."

"He won't stand a chance." She muttered as she looked over at Sasuke, he was staring intently at her, his red eyes staring challenging at her.

"No." He said when she was just besides him, her arms crossed.

"Sasuke- You _will_ remove yourself."

"No- I'm not stepping on that thing." Sasuke denied.

"Alright," Hinata agreed, a glint in her eye. He didn't _need_ to touch the bridge to cross it. "I'll just carry you then."

"No- no!" Sasuke squeaked, panicked as she prepared to paralyze him. "Knock me out at least!"

* * *

 _ **Next chapter: Speedy**_

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

There is still time to suggest summoning animals! A whole month! The current animals I'm liking the most is Naruto: Meerkats or owls, Sakura/Yuuka: Clouded Leopards, Hinata: Tigers. The last two are a bit similar… so it would be nice if any of you had an idea to change them.

* * *

 **Review time:**

 **DarkDusk27:** _There's a bit of SasuNaru moments in this chapter, I hope they satisfy your needs. :3_

 **Sai Hikwa and Kistuneswiftpaw:** _Tigers… hmmm_

 **Tamani:** _MEERKATS! (They're my favourite animal XD)_

 **Gremlin Jack:** _They captured Haku, Gato would be an idiot if he didn't hire more shinobi when another team joined the side of Wave so that happened too and some of them went to get Gato's treasure._

 **Ann and Randomy:** _The team has only met two overpowered opponents so far and - spoiler alert - they are going to pop up again. The rest has been A class highest and Sasuke only met one of them on their first mission outside the village_. ( _Also they are genin- everyone stronger than them is going to feel like S class) About Kenji- well if Yuuka had used a fire jutsu then they really only had to worry about taijutsu and healing, but overall he wasn't all that dangerous. Not at all like Orochimaru. Kurenai also removed to client so thecnically they were even. Two jounin vs two jounin and Yuuka + Sakura vs Kenji._


	18. Chapter 18: Speedy

_I do not own Naruto, it would be a disaster._

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Speedy**

* * *

"God I missed this place!" Sasuke exclaimed, hugging the large doors of the village entrance. It took five seconds of hugging before he was shocked by one of the security seals.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted in concern when the electrocuted boy fell down on the dusty ground.

"I'm alright!" Sasuke gasped, holding up a thumb, "I'm alright! Just a bit on the fried end of life!"

"Are you by chance a masochist?" Yuuka asked dully as she pulled him up. Sasuke was slightly charred and his hair was spiking up everywhere, filled with static electricity.

"Well I didn't expect the thing to _fry_ me," Sasuke muttered and glared at the wooden gate as he tried and failed to smooth his hair back down. "When did that even happen?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but looked slightly concerned for his health. "They've always been able to do that, but they only turn on in emergencies…"

Kakashi patted Sakura on her head and she preened at the attention, sending a gloating look to the rest of her team. "Sakura is correct, which brings us the the question of _why_ it's on."

Sasuke hissed at her while Yuuka and Naruto mocked her by over acting her self satisfaction. Kakashi smiled at his team when they began theorising and gave Tenzo who appeared behind Sasuke an amused nod.

"Uchiha-san " The voice suddenly talking behind him made Sasuke jump in surprise.

" _Holy bananas_!" he screamed in English as he instinctively kicked out at what surprised him. Tenzo caught the leg easily enough and let Sasuke go again. Sasuke breathed deeply and looked up at the ANBU. "Yes?" he asked politely.

"The hospital requested your immediate presence, Uchiha-san. C6P." Tenzo told Sasuke monotonous.

Sasuke twitched in irritation. " _Come on!_ Are people really _that_ stupid!?" he continued ranting under his breath and began walking through the gates without another word to his team, followed by Tenzo.

"What's a C6P?"Naruto asked Kakashi when they hurried to follow Sasuke, dragging Kakashi with them.

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm not allowed to know the hospital codes. Tenzo probably doesn't even know the specifics of what he just told Sasuke."

"Kakashi-senpai," Tenzo said. "Please don't."

"We're here." Sasuke said as he stopped by one of Kakashi's most hated place in the village.

"Sasuke!" Rukia flew out the buildings doors and embraced Sasuke in an enthusiastic hug. "Finally! Let's go do some magic!"

Kakashi looked away awkwardly, rubbing his neck when her eyes trailed up to him, narrowing. She released Sasuke and pulled him back inside with her.

"Alright," Kakashi said, not noticing that the rest of his team had followed Sasuke and Rukia, leaving him alone as Tenzo probably had some other duties to attend to. "let's go rapport to the… Uhhh…"

 _And they left me._

Everyone was avoiding Sasuke and Rukia as the older one lead them through the maze that was Konoha's hospital. Rukia had tried to get them, meaning Naruto, Sakura and Yuuka to stay with Kakashi but they had refused to leave Sasuke. (They told them something about team bond as an excuse but in reality they were just curious about what it was that needed _Sasuke_ specifically)

"Uchiha-sama, here." A nurse meet them on their way through the hospital and gave Sasuke a clipboard. Sasuke looked through the papers and winced.

"Oh my god," he grunted, handing the clipboard over to Rukia. "It was really an idiot. Who in their right mind would touch it when they _know_ what it _is. I mean come on! How stupid can you be_!"

Rukia looked at the file and her eyes widened. " _Elder Danzo?_ " She whispered to Sasuke, but Naruto could hear her pretty clearly and moved it on to Sakura who told Yuuka. He wondered who Danzo was.

"I did say it was an idiot," Sasuke muttered. "He knew that it gave Chakra Poisoning but noooo people have to be idiots. This is the fourth time in a year someone did it. And what if the mission became longer than intended? The moron could have died."

Naruto remembered Chakra Poisoning, it had given him a long vacation from the academy because it had been closed off. It had been a great few weeks, people were scared but Naruto had been able to do whatever he wanted.

"Why do they need Sasuke?" Yuuka whispered to him.

"How should I know?"

"You've known Sasuke longer than anyone on our team."

"Uh Sasuke?" Sakura-chan said nervously. "That's one of the elders you're talking about, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"That's exactly _why_ he's an idiot." Sasuke growled and finally stopped by a door, pulling it open with too much force.

Someone squeaked inside and Sasuke was greeted by a nervous nurse who gave him a glove. "Ah. It's this way Uchiha-sama." she looked to the side where Naruto and the rest was standing awkwardly. The room was stale with a several doctors sitting by a window and several different types of machines, overlooking an old geezer laying on what looked like an operating table.

"Why are they here!?" one of the angry looking doctors snarled at the tree intruders.

Sasuke clapped the man on his shoulder and leaning towards his ear. "They're the ghosts of my victims…"

Yuuka made a few ghost noises as the man turned up a lip, returning to his machines. Sasuke grinned at them and left for the old man on the table.

Naruto sticked himself to the window to look at what Sasuke was doing and he startled when a black light - like chakra - began forming where his hand touched the geezer. It began traveling up Sasuke's arm and Naruto shivered at the feeling he got from the room, it made him want to puke. Sasuke grunted and the black light stopped by the old guy, Danzo's chest, continuing up into Sasuke's body.

Then, after a long time, Sasuke fainted.

* * *

"You." Sakura repeated.

"Yes." Sasuke replied for the third time.

" _You._ " Yuuka said in disbelief.

" _Me,_ " Sasuke said dully. " _Yes it was me_."

" _You_." Naruto felt the need to say it at least once.

"You." Kakashi also said, his eye smiling.

"Yes."

"You." Sakura said.

The Hokage's receptionist twitched in irritation, they had been doing nothing but continue back and forth with you's and yes's and she was getting really tired of it. Sure, she had mental training but this was really pushing her sanity

"You." Kakashi said again.

"Ye-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Kiba interrupted Sasuke's repeated reply angrily, and Akamaru

hid his ears under his paws at the volume, "How long are you going to continue doing that!?"

The receptionist breathed a sigh of relief and the rest of Kiba's team all mentally praised the dog boy. The receptionist sighed when she got a signal for sending in the next group, they were her last group. "The Hokage will see you now." she spoke up.

They seemed happy to finally go in and once they closed the door she let up her genjutsu and body flickered away, for another ANBU to take her place, already transformed.

* * *

The Hokage looked at the scroll containing all the summoning scrolls sasuke had found in thought. "What do plan on doing with them?" he asked. Ideally he would let Sasuke take the ones he needed and then keep the rest for future shinobi who were accepted as a summoner.

But it was highly unlikely that it would play out like that.

Sasuke took the scroll from the table a flipped it over, grinning like a cheshire cat."I planned to take one and keep the others for friends, maybe sell some, maybe give one out if I ever get a student. Stuff like that."

"That is acceptable." the Hokage acknowledged. He wouldn't have been able to refuse Sasuke's decision because he had technically found them outside a mission.

"Thanks." Sasuke shoved the scroll inside his pocket.

"That said," Hiruzen sighed. "I can't let your disregard of our rules go unpunished."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "But-"

"But the Hokage can't show favourites, we disobeyed so we get a punishment." Sakura hit him over the head.

Hiruzen smiled at the girl, she would go far in the future with that mind of hers. "Sakura-chan is correct." he looked at the five who was involved in the mission, "You will not be able to receive a mission above D-ranks for a year unless you either become Chunin or are for some reason needed for a mission only you can complete."

"Hokage-sama-" Kakashi spoke up nervously.

"You're getting another kind of punishment, Kakashi-kun," He looked at Kakashi's one eye. "I hope you do remember the usual penalty?"

"...Yes." kakashi remained stoic but Hiruzen knew the _child_ (Kakashi, despite his achievements and maturity was still a child compared to Hiruzen) was unhappy with the result.

"You're all dismissed." He sent them out and dragged a hand over his eyes. Sasuke was looking to become quite a thorn in his side if he didn't do _something_ to make the boy trust him. Maybe he should have let Danzo train the boy instead of letting him get his wish to become a medical ninja.

He pushed the button under his desk and sighed again. He was getting too old for youngsters like Sasuke.

* * *

"Seriously?" Jeraru asked 'looking' at the piece of paper in his hand, "he just handed it over?"

"Well not exactly," Sasuke took the contract back and looked it over for what felt like the one hundredth time, still feeling the same giddy excitement. "But people here don't care about that, so legally, even if Gato tries to get it back, he can't."

"And you want me to be your secretary?" Jeraru grinned. "That's one of the most idiotic ideas I've ever _seen._ "

"Well you know I'm a risk taker," Sasuke replied. "Not that people _would_ be able to trick you 'Mister all my senses except for seeing are overpowered.'"

Jeraru grinned. "So why use the fake name _Michelle_ for anonymity? Isn't it a female name?"

Sasuke paused. "I had a friend once, she was…" he put down the paper and looked at the name with longing. "...close to me." he decided.

"I see, so when are you meeting with them?" Jeraru shifted the subject.

Sasuke smirked. "In a few days, so we need to do some brainstorming for new directions the company can go."

"What about your other idea?" Jeraru asked, "and for that matter, _why_ are you doing all these things?"

Sasuke smirked, leaning back into his chair. "I have a… plan for the future, getting Gato's company was only a bonus."

* * *

"This one's mine." Sasuke immediately picked up the summoning scroll he had picked out for himself. He looked at the writing, reading a language he never learned was still strange after all the years.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, looking at the newer writing on all the scrolls. Gato must have written them on so he knew what he could sell them for.

" _Dinosaurs_." Sasuke grinned.

Yuuka frowned, putting down the scroll she had been looking at to decide, what would be the best choice. It would be a disaster if they choose a clan that did not mix well with them. "Dino- what?"

Sasuke rubbed the scroll on his face with a look of pure joy. " _Dinosaurs_."

"Do they fit you?" Kakashi asked dubious, it would be just like Sasuke to pick an animal that was his opposite.

"Well," Sasuke glanced at the scroll. He shrugged flippantly. "I have no idea."

They looked though the scrolls, discussing each of the animal clan's attributes, comparing them to each other to find the perfect match. Finding one's perfect match when I came to summons were always a game of luck and chance. Those that belonged to clan's always had fitting abilities but those that found one couldn't afford to be picky if they _really_ wanted one.

Kakashi had been lucky like that- his family already had a summoning clan attached to the bone. Naruto did too in a way with the toads, but there was never any rules against having one's name on two scrolls. That is if Naruto wanted another one when the time came and Kakashi couldn't deny him a summon without being able to explain that his father's summon was waiting for him to sign theirs.

In the end, Kakashi talked to his own summons and they decided together that no Kakashi wouldn't get another summoning animal.

Sakura and Yuuka took a scroll with the animal Chocobo, a flightless bird Sasuke had explained. Naruto had picked meerkats, an animal he _did_ know what was, unlike Sasuke, Sakura and Yuuka's.

Naruto and Sakura had asked Kakashi for help in summoning their animal the first time - God bless they actually asked - while Sasuke went to find his other friends.

Kakashi was going to punish them all anyway - a very painful and humiliating punishment.

* * *

Rukia had denied getting a summoning scroll and Sasuke was a bit disappointed if he had to be honest. He had hoped his teacher would get one too but he couldn't deny her when she said I'd be wasted on her since she did not actively fight on missions and needed all her chakra for healing.

Sasuke should probably - logically with his career choice - have done the same, but _dinosaurs._ How was he to deny his own desire to get _dinosaurs_ as companions.

Jeraru didn't want one either and Sasuke wanted to cry himself to sleep.

Well- he _didn't_ cry- he never cried unless it was to freak someone out.

 _He didn't._

Hinata on the other hand _did_ take one but she wanted to train for summoning with Kurenai and didn't tell him which one she took. The demon wanted an edge against him if they were entered into the Chunin exams.

She just didn't realise that Dinosaurs would outdo anything in the scroll pile. Poor, poor misguided Hina.

So Sasuke was going to summon his first dinosaur _alone_. He was not sulking.

He looked out at his private training ground and leaned out the hammock he was laying in. He landed _gracefully_ on the ground, he _intended_ to leave his comfy soft hammock. He did _not_ accidentally lean too much to one side and fall of.

Sasuke dusted himself off and walked out to the open grass area, he crouched down and rolled open his scroll. He placed one of his favourite brushes (the wooden one with red flowers) to the side and looked at the scroll. It had one name on it, it was written in symbols, but not the weird ones he could read. It was like they were _even_ older. It made Sasuke even more excited, he looked at the strange name, ready to sign his name and something Kakashi-sensei told him made him stop in horror. "The summoning scroll will require you to sign it in blood and for every summoning, the animal will demand some blood in return."

 _Blood_. He shuddered and quickly unsealed one of his knives. He nicked his finger and squeezed it, making the blood pool at the end. He wrote his name hastily- he did _not_ want to be forced to cut himself again. In the end he was forced to do it twice more before his name was finally written out.

He stood up and did the hand seals, blood still on his hands from the writing. "Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted, just like Kakashi said they had too for the jutsu to work as he slapped his hand down to the ground.

A seal spread out from his hand and a cloud of chakra exploded in front of him. The dinosaur inside growled and Sasuke's face was promptly assaulted by the tiny creature. It's claws ripped a small rift on his face, just barely missing his eye as it tried it's hardest to maim him. Sasuke gripped it and pulled it off his face, glaring at its small green form.

"What the hell!?" he snapped.

"You!" the dinosaur that looked like a small version of a T-Rex, screeched and wiggled in his hands, "You dare summon me!"

"Uh… yes?" Sasuke asked, "isn't that the whole point of a summoning scroll?"

"Release me!" it demanded, it's yellow eyes narrowing, "Now!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at it in return and put it down on the grass, slowly. It immediately bit the finger closest to its mouth and a cloud of chakra exploded around them. The dinosaur released him quickly, crying as it ran away from him.

"I'm sorry!" Sasuke shouted disheartened but froze at the hot breath behind him.

He turned around to face the giant, scaly head of an even bigger dinosaur. A much, _much_ bigger dinosaur. It breathed on him though it's mouth again, it's warm beath making Sasuke's hair stand up more than it already did, it was one of those long necked ones. "Human." It said, and nothing more.

Sasuke took a step back. Gosh it was awesome! It made him want to shout declarations of love. Was that how his creepy fangirls felt when they saw him? "You're awesome." he said before he could stop himself.

It chuckled - how could it do that? And raised its head up a long way above him. "It has been a long time since humans visited our realm, much less a fractured human."

"Yes…" a voice talked right besides his ear and Sasuke jumped in surprise, turning to the slitted eyes of the carnivorous dinosaur. It was a raptor, no doubt about it if it's feet had anything to say. It was a bit over twice as tall as Sasuke himself and covered in beautifully colored feathers in key locations, disrupting it's pure black form in the light. "The squishy human is already different from those that usually comes here."

"Maybe we should keep this one…" the bigger of the two dinosaurs murmured and Sasuke noticed that they were surrounded by many more kinds of all sizes when they began whispering to each other.

"I am right here." Sasuke pointed out.

The giant dinosaur blinked slowly and studied him. "I apologise human, but I have to ask- what gender are you? I have never been able to tell your genders apart."

"Who cares? Let's just test it." the Raptor snapped at Sasuke's arm, trying to take a bite.

Sasuke pulled away from the carnivore and warily watched its movements. "I'm- uh male?" that was the first time Sasuke had been asked what gender he was and it was _weird_. "I think?"

"It can't even tell it's own gender," the raptor sneered. "maybe we should eat it?"

Sasuke turned back to the raptor. "I'd like for you _not_ to eat me?"

"Why isn't it afraid?" one of the other dinosaurs whispered.

"It'd don't know, maybe it's stupid."

"Talking to two of the elders like that? It's definitely stupid."

"Why haven't Elder Osamu eaten him yet?"

"Silence!" the raptor snarled, silencing the others in in a second. It's head snapped back to Sasuke and it sniffed at him and looked up at the other, they nodded at each other. "Human," the raptor said. "I am elder Osamu and I will test you. If you pass, we will allow you to summon our kind- but if you _fail_. You will _become my meal_."

Sasuke clenched his teeth, his muscles tensing. Kakashi _did not_ say _anything_ about being _eaten_. "What do I have to do?"

Osamu smirked, how did a raptor even smirk? "Survive…" he hissed, his eyes flashed and Sasuke jumped back when the raptor charged him, smashing into a giant leg.

Sasuke spun around the leg and body flickered away, only to get headbutted by a smaller raptor. Before he could respond, another small raptor smashed into him and Sasuke ducked out under them, kicking at their softer stomach with chakra, making them stick to his feet. "Sorry!" He shouted, kicking them away from himself and flinging it into the raptor elder when he attacked.

Quickly moving away from the surprised raptor, sasuke came face to face with a pair of giant red eyes. The dinosaur didn't attack and Sasuke slapped himself, turning on his Sharingan, Sasuke moved back to the biggest raptor as he pulled out one of Naruto's seals.

 _Survive? What about defeat?_ Sasuke slid between the smaller raptors, their movements so much slower with the Sharingan. He reached the elder who looked surprised and slapped the seal on his snout before bodyflickering away. He activated the seal, electrocuting Osamu and jumped over the raptor his size that attacked him. Sasuke was surprised when its tail smashed into Sasuke's back as the raptor spun around in a circle.

Sasuke rolled on the ground, slapping a hand on his back to heal himself as he took the first thing in reaching distance into his hand. Pulling as much chakra he without destroying the stick into it, Sasuke used it to quickly smack the raptor over his face before it could take a bite out of his face. The raptor got knocked out from the force of Sasuke's chakra twig.

Sasuke looked around wearily and rolled away when Osamu charged him, throwing away the stick. Then suddenly, Osamu was just besides him and Sasuke received a claw to his side, tearing flesh.

"Gah!" Sasuke gasped, falling down onto the hard ground. Before Sasuke could move to heal the wound, the slightly charred Elder Osamu appeared over him, pressing a foot clawed down on him, holding him in place. Sasuke glared, slapping his hand on the cut.

Osamu peered down at the human. "What's this?" he moved a claw along Sasuke's face and crooked his head to the side. "Where did these defiant eyes come from squishy?"

"My name is Sasuke." _and I really don't want to die._

"You have a fire in you human," Osamu said roughly as he finally stepped of sasuke, having already destroyed his clothes with the claws on his foot. "We accept your contract." he dipped his head in acknowledgment.

"Really?" Sasuke asked suspiciously and both Osamu and the other elder nodded. The mood completely changed, the other dinosaurs began talking excitedly among each other and within seconds Sasuke was laying underneath a pile of young baby dinosaurs, sniffing curiously at him.

* * *

Sasuke was quite excited, Osamu had told him that he would be handed a parentless egg to raise before he left their realm again. There were rare times when dinosaurs would die before their time, if they got into a fight, got sick or were in an accident.

"This is where our young get's hatched." Ichiro told Sasuke as he stepped aside to let him see all the nests past his large legs. Ichiro was one of the elders, the youngest of the dinosaur clans ten leaders - The dinosaurs were all under one summoning scroll, despite them all being several different races. Ichiro was an acrocanthosaurus with a pleasant peru brown color with markings a few shades darker.

Sasuke followed Ichiro quietly as he lead him through the area filled with mothers and fathers watching over their future children, they looked up at Sasuke as he past them, the older ones recognizing him as a human while the younger- some smaller than Arata - the small young T-rex who had brought him to the dinosaurs realm - asked about his presence there.

Ichiro bend his head down to sasuke and whispered, "The younger ones are thinking about if you're food or not." he nodded his head towards a small flock of dinosaurs a bit shorter than Sasuke, they were watching him intently

Sasuke stopped walking and glanced at them, they stood taller at his attention, sizing him up. "Well- they're not going to eat me… right?"

Ichiro chuckled and continued along. "It is a brave thing elder Osamu is doing, you must have left quite an impression in him." Ichiro mused quietly, when sasuke caught up with him.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"The young one he wants you to look after…" he fell quiet, and hung his head. "One of Osamu's once children was it's mother."

"What happened?"

"There are some of us… who doesn't like the idea of a summoning contract. Osamu's once child and her once mate..." He didn't elaborate further but Sasuke could guess what had happened to them.

"What do they have against the contract?" Sasuke asked. "My sensei said I needed to sacrifice blood every time I summon one of you- I can only imagine you need it for something."

"Ah- yes, we do use the blood for something. I'm afraid I can't tell you what though," Ichiro grinned, showing all his dangerous teeth, "The name on the summoning scroll want the last summoner we had, the last one was not… ideal and Osamu's once father eventually removed the horrible man's name. but even if the first summoner was kind, many feared a repetition and they left."

Sasuke was about to say more but ended up walking into Ichiro's leg when he stopped. "We're here," In front of them was a nest with only one egg, so unlike the others he had seen on his way there. Sasuke walked up to the egg and stopped hesitantly, should he pick it up or? He was pushed from behind by Ichiro and the older dinosaur whispered. "Pick it up- our eggs are not fragile like the bird eggs where you are from."

"Alrighty," Sasuke muttered and bend down to pick up the small egg, it was smaller than he had expected and he would be able to hold it with one hand- but that wasn't something he'd try his luck with. "Woah.." Sasuke could almost feel the life inside the egg.

* * *

"Speedy! no..." Sasuke moaned in horror as the little grey red demon tore into the wall with a vicious fury, determined to make to wall suffer for walking into her. She clawed and bit at the poor corner until Sasuke picked her up. " _eating walls is a no, no_ ," He reminded her and poked her small snout, "It means no treats."

"But mommy..." The small dinosaur whined. "it was look at me funny."

"Looking at me funny, Speedy." Jeraru piped up unhelpfully.

"Lookig!" Speedy copied happily.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Jeraru. "You're not helping."

The blue haired bastard grinned and whispered before leaving Sasuke alone with speedy. "Like mother like daughter."

"Damn you..." Sasuke hissed under his breath.

"Mommy! I'm humgry!" Speedy squealed, wiggling excitedly in his hands.

Sasuke sighed at all her adorable-ness and put her down on the floor. "Our walls are no, no," he looked at her until she pouted and nodded, "Then it food time."

"YAY!" Speedy cheered, jumping after Sasuke, into the kitchen. Speedy was a red-grey with black markings and had brown whitish fluff - that would probably be replaced with beautiful feathers - Utahraptor - just like her grandfather Omasu and she was… hyper.

Sasuke crouched down and held out a piece of meat, Speedy snapped at it and hissed when Sasuke pulled it away from her mouth. Sasuke grinned and threw it to her, watching her tear into the meat. He was never hand feeding her again, almost getting his fingers bitten off once was enough for him.

* * *

Speedy glared from her small nest inside the nest, her mommy was making food, humming some funky song. Mommy was cooking for when his friends would come over to their nest and Speedy would be there to take bites of their legs.

Speedy had met one of them before, aunt Hina had come to the nest some moons- days back but she had never meet Mommy's teammates, his fighting friends.

Mommy looked at her when the doorbell rang. "Remember, _if_ you have to bite one of them, don't make it too messy." mommy smirked and speedy did too, nodding excitedly.

She waited in her small nest, hidden from view, the patient predator and before long she saw the five guests. Aunt Hina was with other humans, one was little and orange, two were pink and red while the last was big, like Mommy's master Rukia but blue and green.

"So where is she?" the orange one asked Mommy excitedly, his blue eyes searching for something, searching for her. It would be her target.

Speedy sprung out from her nest and rammed into an orange leg, putting her claws into the leg to hang on as she tried to bite around the large limb. She tasted the blood in her mouth and when the orange human screamed in surprise and pain, Speedy jumped off it and ran back to her nest.

"There she is." mommy said dully.

"She _bit_ me!" the orange one stressed, "She _bit_ me. In the _leg._ "

Mommy shrugged and gestured for Naruto to sit down. "She bites everything- I told you." mommy smirked and pulled up the preys orange skin, using his magic healing to repair some of the damage until the water boiled over and he hurried to the kitchen.

"Hey!" orange shouted miserably, "You're not done."

"Hina- can you?" mommy asked, his attention never leaving what he was doing. Aunt Hina sighed, her head turning completely red and she nodded.

"She's adorable." One of the pink ones, the one with shorter feathers - or hair as mommy called it - cooed at Speedy as she crouched close to her nest. But not too close, a respectful close.

"Traitor." Orange muttered as aunt Hina began wrapping it's leg in white cloth.

"Trator." Speedy copied happily.

Orange hissed at her and mommy came to Speedy's defence, slapping the big prey over his yellow head with a big spoon. "Wait a few weeks and she'll eat your face instead of gnawing your leg."

Speedy squealed happily, she was getting bigger and when she was big enough no one would challenge her! She would be top predator!

"Hey little girl," the short haired pink one said slowly as it held out a respectful hand, it had something black on one of its eyes, "Can I touch you?"

Speedy jumped up with a squeal - she loved petting! - and ran over to the waiting hand, rubbing her equally sized head against the palm. She purred.

Pink giggled, "I'm Yuuka." she said, scratching Speedy in the perfect spot. Speedy almost fell over from bliss

"Yuuga!" Speedy said.

"Yuu- kaa." Yuuka repeated.

"Yuu- ka!" Speedy was proud she could the nice pink ones name.

* * *

"Actually- Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei cut in their conversation, his food already done. Sasuke was sure the used time space ninjutsu to stop time while he ate. He took a book from his pocket and Sasuke winced- he didn't want Kakashi-sensei's stupid book on his table. "Take a look." he said, sliding it over to him.

"I'm not interested in your stupid books," Sasuke replied, sliding it back. Maybe if it had a good _story_ Sasuke would be able to read it but from what he had heard, it wouldn't be something for him. "You can keep it."

Kakashi blinked, or was it a wink? He would never know. "It's not one of my books, just look at the marked page." the book slid back towards him and Hinata squinted at it.

"It's a bingo book," she said, recognizing something on the cover that that apparently gave it away.

"Hinata is correct," Kakashi-sensei smiled, "Maybe I should ask to get the other half of your little duo in the team instead- she seems so much more knowledgeable."

Sasuke's hissing was followed by a hissing from the shadows, a pair of golden eyes glaring.

"Sorry." Kakashi-sensei apologised to the dinosaur. And speedy narrowed her eyes before nodding in acceptance.

"Alright-" Sasuke took the book and opened it on the marked page, he began reading. "Tsubaki Nanda, Missing nin, rank B, has several- hey!" Sasuke stopped when Kakashi-sensei snatched the book back.

"You're on the wrong page," he explained and began reading. "The Puppet Master - name unknown, rank B, appearance undetermined, but reports indicate, male average height, black hair spiked at the end and bangs, red demonic eyes - see recreation for more detail. used several hired guards as nothing more than puppets before assassinating their leader… sounds familiar?" kakashi jumped around in the text and turned the book to show the picture.

"How should I know?" Sasuke asked when Kakashi had continued to stare at him for a long time.

"Isn't it you Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Nah- I didn't kill anyone," Sasuke shrugged, "besides, it doesn't even look like me."

"Yes- of course. My bad," Kakashi-sensei snapped the book shut. "There's _thousands_ of shinobi walking around with a ducks butt on their heads, it could be _anyone_." he said sarcastically.

"Thanks."

* * *

Sasuke was walking through the village, ignoring the admiring stares from most of Konoha's civilians. They weren't as frequent or as fangirly as they had been when he had just been released from the hospital a few years ago.

But it was still creepy. How did celebrities do it.

"Umm…" a girl stood in front of him and Sasuke vaguely recognized her as Ochako from the academy. She must have been on one of the failing teams if her lack of shinobi wear was anything to go by. She did seem to be wearing slightly old clothes though, not something he'd expect from a shinobi candidate. "Sasuke-kun hi." she was clearly nervous so Sasuke smiled brightly.

"Yeah?" he asked kindly - well as nicely as he could manage, maybe he was actually an intimidating person when he tried to look friendly, even without realising it.

"You're a medical nin right?" she whispered, looking away from him.

Sasuke blinked, he had _not_ expected that. "Yes I am, is someone hurt?"

"Yes," a tear leaked out the corner of her eye. "my- my grandfather is dying, but he was from Mist- so-so he doesn't get the discount for medical treatment- I was going to become a shinobi so I could help my family with money- but but."

"Hey." Sasuke gripped her shoulders and wiped away her tears. "where do you live Ochako?"

She seemed relieved at his familiarity with her and nodded once, he let her lead him to her home.

* * *

"Thank you!" Ochako sobbed, desperately hugging Sasuke, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Hey it was no big deal." Sasuke soothed her kindly. It had actually been a _very_ big deal, her grandfather would have died in the matter of days without treatment and he probably would have when they didn't have the money necessary for his treatment.

"Ochako, let the young man breathe." Ochako's mother said as she exited the room where her father was sound asleep.

"As Ochako said, thank you," She bowed down. "I was fearing the worst and when you came in, I did not know what to do- I had heard about you - but I never imagined-"

Sasuke smiled, this was why he did what he did. To help people, give them hope, make them _happy_ and there were even more reasons to stack on top. "It's what I do, heal people."

"Thank you, again. I'm forever grateful," Ochako said when Sasuke was about to leave. "if there's _ever_ anything I can do for you don't hesitate, ask me."

Sasuke thought it over for a few seconds. "Hey in a week or so- around the Chunin exam. I have a project that will start then and I could use someone to work for me. You need money and I need an employee for my project. Interested?"

"Umm I still have the academy- my mom and dad wanted me to follow my own dream- when would you need me?" She jumped around in subjects before deciding her choice.

Sasuke blinked. "Right- meet me at-" he looked for something to write on, patting down his jacket for anything and Ochako- sensing his intent- quickly found something for him to write on. "Here's my address- meet me- or Jeraru- he has blue hair- there on Tuesday."

Ochako looked at him like he was the saviour of the world. "Thank you. I'll see you on Tuesday, I won't fail."

"See you Tuesday!" Sasuke said his goodbyes. He really hated goodbyes they were always so awkward. "I really need a business card…" Sasuke muttered under his breath, it would remove any problems with his contacts in the future. It was also a god sent that they had phones in konoha- that they had phones in this underdeveloped world.

Yes- he would make one, and it would rock-

Annnnd someone just appeared in front of him. "Hi?" He asked, glancing up at the strangely blank mask. "What's up?"

"..." the strange ANBU remained stoic, not saying anything.

"it's the sky!" Sasuke exclaimed, throwing his hands up, he faltered at the reaction he got. Nothing. "Uhhh. You know? The sky is up?"

"Danzo-sama wants to meet you." the ANBU said.

"Danzo? Elder Danzo? The guy who got chakra poisoning?" Sasuke waved at the blank mask, hoping to get any kind of response.

"Follow me." he- he looked male at least- said and grabbed Sasuke's arm, body flickering them away.

"Hey!" Sasuke exclaimed, kicking out at the ANBU, vaguely remembering a situation just like it where he was surprised by another ANBU a few days ago. But unlike that time, this time he actually hit his target and suck to his stomach. Using the momentum, Sasuke threw the ANBU down as he swung around, holding the blank ANBU's hands behind his back. "What. The. _Fuck."_ Sasuke grunted at the man as he tried to get free.

A sudden clapping made him look up, eyes narrowing in suspicion when he found an old bandaged man in a kimono sitting on a park bench. behind him was an army of blank ANBU, standing rooted to the ground. The man clapped. "Most impressive, come join me," he said calmly.

Sasuke did not move from the ANBU, keeping him locked in place. "Uh. Any reason why you kidnapped me?" _I certainly hope getting kidnapped won't become a regular thing…_

"I wanted to talk to you, but you are a very elusive character Uchiha Sasuke. It was difficult to find you and I did not want any delays."

"Right… so this is like my third time being kidnapped and I gotta say I don't like it. I'm not some secretive person that's impossible to talk to." Sasuke made some gestures that did not really mean anything. _Alright I'm leaving when he's done with his weird old man talk… jeez man._

"Yet you do it so naturally," He praised Sasuke for the second time and gestured to the bench he was sitting on, "But first, come join me."

Sasuke stood up, pulling chakra into his hands. "Who are you?"

"Someone interested in your future." the bandaged man simply said, knowing that Sasuke recognized him..

He was danzo shimura the strangely bandaged man Sasuke had healed from chakra poisoning. _Is he always bandaged from head to toe?_ "You shouldn't be walking yet. Your CP was really bad- you should be resting… not… this."

He made a wide gesture to the man and the ANBU standing still as stone around the bench he was sitting on.

"I am grateful for your concern. But I am fully capable of taking care of myself," Danzo said and gestured to the seat besides him, "Please talk to me."

Sasuke looked at Danzo, then at the ANBU around him. They didn't look like real ANBU. "No thanks." Sasuke turned to leave, ready for an attack.

"I must insist," the ANBU moved behind him and Sasuke turned around, "I have an offer for you."

"I'm sorry- but Speedy is waiting for me!" Sasuke body flickered away from them, stopping on a tiled roof close to his home.

"Pew."

He looked up at the stars, some were big, some were small and some blinked. But none of them made any constellations he could recognize. _What a creepy ass guy._

He was suddenly hit on his lower back. Sasuke gasped, losing his footing and before he knew it, he was back with Danzo, sitting on the bench.

"It was not a request." Danzo said as he glared at Sasuke.

Said boy leaned away from the man, but stayed on the bench he had been put. "Don't you think this would give me a bad impression of you?"

Danzo looked at Sasuke like he was a small child - which he technically was and Sasuke frowned, moving out to the edge of the bench. He would have rather sat on the ground but Danzo probably wouldn't take that so well.

"I care little for 'impressions' it holds no value to me." He eventually said.

 _Right- that's why you purposefully made this situation look intimidating while you go around looking frail. Well guess what? I've been in your chakra- that sounded wrong- dammit._ Sasuke grinned a bit at his inner monologue, not caring if he seemed transparent to the old man. "Alright." He said.

"Where do you see yourself in the future? What is your vision Sasuke Uchiha?" Danzo asked smoothly.

"My future?" The guy was probably a pedofile on top of being creepy- though pedofile usually meant creepy too. "Nah- not really? I mainly just thought I'd someday become full time medic."

"You are a talented young man, besting one of my special operatives easily. Why waste your life away when you can have anything you want?" Danzo never changed his expression, continuing his impassive appearance.

"Meh." Sasuke replied with a dismissive gesture.

Danzo frowned at Sasuke's awesome ability to not care about power. "Let me train you."

Sasuke blinked dumbly at the man. "I am so sorry to say this, but I kinda already have teachers."

"And yet they will never be able to reach your full potential." He said smoothly.

Sasuke stared at the man for a long time, he was relentless. "You _really_ want to teach me?" _like I'll stalk you to death, really? Or if you want I'd kiss you for the opportunity, really?_

Danzo blinked, or winked - Sasuke couldn't be sure but he sincerely hoped it wasn't the later - like he had just realised something. His expression smoothed out and a small smile jerked at the corner of his mouth. "Yes I would, it's not everyday a youth with such rich potential is just beyond my reach. I've longed to train the _right_ person for a very long time."

Sasuke frowned at the defeated look in the man's eyes. "Why didn't you just ask earlier? Like when I wasn't a genin yet?"

Danzo sighed deeply and Sasuke glanced at the ANBU. "The third hokage forbade me from approaching you."

"Of course he did," Sasuke snarked lowly so that the old man besides him wouldn't be able to hear it, "So why now? Why did you bring me here when the Hokage forbid you from talking to me? Not to mention the fact that you really didn't bring me here in a nice way, kidnapping is so a month ago."

The elder studied Sasuke for a long minute. "The way you speak is very curious. I meet a man many years ago who spoke like you."

Sasuke blinked. "The way I talk is weird?"

Danzo smiled briefly and Sasuke didn't feel like the man was used to showing emotions on his face. "It is really no matter," He dismissed smoothly, "I finally contacted you because the of the Chunin exams."

Sasuke hadn't known the Chunin exams would be held in an allied village this time, but he certainly didn't want to be in it regardless. "The Chunin exams? Why would they make you defy the Hokage's orders like this?"

"Because the chances of you participating in it is very high. So I've come to offer you the chance to train with me up until the exams and if you decide that my training is not something for you, then you can feel free to leave again."

Sasuke shrugged. "Sure, I'll train with you. But I don't really want to be in the exams, not that I think Kakashi-sensei would actually sign us up."

Danzo smiled softly and patted the seat besides him and Sasuke. "I am truly grateful that you would accept my offer, but before that, I would like to share something with you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion, Danzo was creepy, but in a weird old grandpa with a stick up his ass. "You're not going to give me a porn magazine are you?"

Danzo stared at him in shock for a long moment. "I do not intend to give you a… magazine."

Sasuke breathed out. "Oh god, that's good. I was getting really worried you'd do something weird," He looked back at the old man, "So what did you want to share? Your life story? All your kinky interests? That you're actually a pedophile? A fish with strange patterns? A jutsu?"

"Nothing like that," Danzo reassured Sasuke, with a look that clearly said that he wasn't amused by Sasuke. It really just made Sasuke want to do it more, "I am afraid that many, myself included has deceived you from before you lost your memory."

"Deceived me?" Sasuke asked flatly.

Danzo frowned sadly. "Yes. I'm afraid that the murder of your entire family was commanded by the village elders and the Hokage. Itachi Uchiha was-"

Sasuke interrupted harshly, slamming his hand down into the bench, his red eyes spinning with anger. "What!?" A strange anger rose inside him, an anger he had never felt before. The sudden emotions left Sasuke winded and confused, it had never happened before.

Why would he feel such anger for the deaths of people he had never known? It was down right uncharacteristic of him to be furious. In a moment, all he wanted was to stick a fire dagger in the man's troat.

Sasuke jerked in surprise and quickly reigned in the surprising emotions, slouching back in his position on the far end of the bench. Sasuke clenched his fists.

Danzo didn't seem surprised and just nodded once. "Your reaction is understandable. But you must understand that your clan was slowly undertaking a coup and Itachi knew what had to be done. He did all the horrible things that transpired that day, to save you from the fate of your family."

Sasuke moved the point of his thumb around and tapped it against his other fingers. "So the psycho I always hear about is a psycho who loves me?"

Danzo shifted besides him. "That would be one way of putting it." His cane poked the earth besides Sasuke's feet and he looked up at the old man curiously.

"We have wronged you," Danzo said and drew his cane back, his eye locked with Sasuke's, "But I feel that training you can give the village a chance of making up for what happened."

"Sure." Sasuke said, unable to really say anything else. He didn't know how to take the news but he'd probably sort it out after thinking about it for a few days.

* * *

"The Elemental dagger?" Danzo asked as he carefully studied the flaming weapon coming out of Sasuke's clenched hand. The fire licked at Sasuke's hand without burning him and it blazed up, extending outwards. The flames grew wild and Sasuke yelped, dropping the fire.

"Yeah," Sasuke muttered and shook his burned hand, giving it air. "Ouchie."

"Tell me what you are doing wrong." Danzo commanded. The man never asked, he commanded.

Sasuke winced at the smell of burnt skin, slumping as he began slowly healing his hand. "Well I _was_ multiplying my output of chakra and extending it out like a lightsaber, but it obviously doesn't work."

Danzo put out a bandaged hand and Sasuke promptly put his smaller one in his. "Your medical ninjutsu is most impressive." his thumb moved over the back of Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke's eye twitched and he quickly snatched his hand back. He soothed it and muttered encouraging words to it. "Please don't do that… It's creepy."

Danzo chuckled an unused laugh. "I won't then, but that does not undermine the fact that you do posses some most impressive medical abilities."

"Thanks," Sasuke muttered. She had encouraged Anko to torture him, they called it training. But he knew what it really was, it was their pent up sadism put into action. Against his poor existence, "Rukia is a horrible teacher."

Danzo visibly frowned. "I hope that with time you will not come to call me a horrible teacher."

Sasuke smirked. "Well I'd hope not. Buuuut I am very selective in what I like."

The bandaged man shook his head and a ANBU landed besides him with a gesture of his hand. "Let's work on evolving the Fire Dagger. Please make one for me."

Sasuke glanced sideways at the ANBU, he, or she looked to be around twenty. He made the fire dagger and frowned curiously at Danzo when he didn't do anything.

He gestured to the ANBU. "I believe that practical discipline works the best." With that said, the man-woman drew a sword and leaped at Sasuke as Danzo looked on impassively.

 _Goddamn it! I always know how to pick them!_ The blade nicked his shoulder as he tried blocking.

 _What the hell is wrong with my people skills!?_

* * *

" **How's it hanging bitch?** " Mister Shadow said and Sasuke almost fell over the ledge he was sitting on. He gripped the railing and breathed slowly.

"Oh god, don't do that."

Speedy was laying besides him, her eyes preying on the people under them. She looked up at where Mister Shadow appeared and growled slightly.

" **Oh, a Dinosaur.** " Mister Shadow observed unhelpfully.

"Hi," Speedy greeted with a blink, "Speedy."

Sasuke groaned when Mister Shadow turned all his attention on Speedy. "Speedy meet Mister Shadow, Mister Shadow meet Speedy." he introduced quickly and dragged a hand through his hair.

Speedy blinked and tilted her long head. "You are Mommy's master?"

"Why yes I am." A smirk spread on Mister Shadow and his form began changing appearance with genjutsu.

Sasuke glared. "Hell no."

Mister Shadow just grinned. " **So what's happened to your bitch ass life?** "

Sasuke frowned, "Well I meet a guy like me-"

Hands scratched his shoulders and Sasuke was forcefully turned towards Mister Shadow, his hands began turning black. " **Which idiot decided that coming here was smart!? Who is that fucking guy!?** "

Sasuke rolled his eyes and shrugged the hands off him. "He was talking about a Dux Midari… something, He said something about still being on your side..."

" **Midori Azami?** " Mister Shadow asked and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, " **I haven't heard that shitty name in a long time**."

"So she's like you?" Sasuke asked, he guessed she must have been for that boy- Mar-something to be able to be there.

" **Fuck no- Same species but she's a fucking pussy.** "

"There's more of you Mister Shadow-sama?" Speedy asked.

Mister Shadow nodded and Sasuke watched the sky and glanced down at the streets, watching the the people bustling around. He looked up again, a little nauseous from the height.

"What are you going to do?" He stoked Speedy's striped back and scratched her between her shoulders.

" **Are you finally going to accept my fucking offer?** " Mister Shadow asked instead of answering.

"No- I still don't like it."

Speedy looked up at him in confusion, why would her Mommy deny Mister Shadow? "Why not Mommy?"

Sasuke smiled. "I guess it makes me uncomfortable..."

Mister Shadow barked with laughter. " **You might not have a fucking choice in a few months.** "

"Well I'll just have to refuse until I can't."

" **You might end up regretting it if you're too late...** "

* * *

"Sakura-san?" Hinata grabbed the pink haired girl's shoulder lightly, she was standing frozen, staring out into _nothing_ , "What's wrong?"

"I just-" she closed her mouth, unable to

form any words and blinked, looking out the way Sasuke must have gone,"I just saw Sasuke-kun."

Hinata frowned, Sasuke? "What did he do?" did Hinata have to punish Sasuke now?

"I just saw Sasuke-kun," Sakura repeated. "in a suit."

"...In a suit?"

"Yes…" Sakura looked miserable, "If he just wasn't…" she shook her head and looked up at her. "Anyway… what did you need?"

"I- I wanted to know if you and Yuuka-san wo-would be interested in training with me?" Damit, she stuttered.

"You want to train with _us?_ " Sakura asked, interested. She grinned and hugged Hinata. "Of course you can! We all need more girl time!"

* * *

 _ **Next chapter: The test of long pauses.**_

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Let the author's Inner dinosaur nerd come to light. (Still no expert so I probably butchered _something_ )

Danzo was a terrible person to write and I know I wasn't good enough at portraying his character- mostly because I _despise_ manipulating people- and while I can see through them pretty easily actually writing it makes me want to puke. So he's probably not as good at it here.

Also- anyone recognize the inspiration for Ochako? (The name is kinda a dead give away) and are you as excited for the upcoming anime as I am?

Also (again) The people who aren't from the Naruto world isn't the main plot (it's more of of a subplot) for those of you worried.

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!

* * *

 _ **Review thing:**_

I recently learned about replying to reviews over private messaging so that's how I'm going to be doing it for now on! and a thanks to all that reviewed on last chap!


	19. Chapter 19: The test of long pauses

_I don't own Naruto, I am a fish. (That's a lie btw)_

* * *

 **Chapter 19: The test of long pauses.**

* * *

"I still can't believe he _actually_ _did_ it!" Sakura hissed, her body was soaked in water, "The atrocity of that man!"

"Well you gotta hand it to him- he certainly doesn't back down from promises." Sasuke grinned despite his own body being soaked to the bone with water. Kakashi had made them spar on a lake that had seen better days and when they lost, they had to take a dip in it. Sakura ended up taking three baths, Yuuka four, Naruto two and Sasuke six because he ended up being double teamed in the end.

"You all smell." Speedy turned her nose away from them in disdain. She had grown a lot since she hatched and her back reached a bit above Sasuke's knees.

"Shut it reptile." Sakura growled.

"Don't rub it in." Yuuka hissed.

"I'll chew on you!"

"Speedy?" Sasuke called out, "What did I teach you?"

Speedy smirked. "Not to take what the stupid herbivores say to heart."

"Correct!" Sasuke praised happily, removing a fake tear. She was such a good girl- being able to come up with bullshit in a moments notice… she had come so far.

Sakura hit him lightly over his head, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"

He ignored her in favour of looking at the young dinosaur. "What do we call that?" he asked, pointing at Sakura who spluttered.

Speedy scrunched her face up in concentration. "Let the herbivores believe they have the upper hand- then bite!"

"Mommy's so proud." Sasuke fell to his knees and wept fakely, hugging Speedy to his chest.

"Oh my God…" Sakura muttered.

"You're just jealous of my prefect parenting!" Sasuke accused.

"Oh my God." Yuuka repeated, finally feeling the same annoyance as Sakura.

"Oh my God." Naruto said, just so he wouldn't get left out.

Speedy clicked her teeth. "You suck at parenting mommy!" She whipped her tail against his leg and sped ahead of them.

"I love you too!" Sasuke shouted after her, "But stay where I can see you!"

"Yes!" Speedy ran straight for the corner furthest away from them and left her Mommy's field of vision. Speedy almost ran into two sets of legs but managed to slide between them. They jumped away from her in surprise with shocked yelps. Speedy continued but didn't reach very far because her tail was suddenly snatched up from behind. Speedy's legs left the ground and she glared at the purple face of the boy who had pulled her up.

She should rip his arm off, but mommy would be in trouble if she did.

"Don't ignore me lizard," he grunted, his narrow eyes glaring. He was holding her at the base if her tail and Speedy's claws flashed out, ripping a hole in his strange clothes, "Hey!"

"Kankuro! Cut it out!" the female one hissed, "We'll get into truble with its owner!"

"I'll be quick-" The boy smirked at her and Speedy attacked again, he straightened his arm, moving her out of reach. His claws made a strange gesture and she felt pressure on her body. "I've never tasted this kind of lizard before."

Speedy closed her eyes. _Mommy_ … she pleaded.

A bandaged hand gripped purple's wrist and twisted it.

"Hello ass faces." Sasuke greeted cheerfully, suddenly standing between the purple clad girl and the boy with paint on his face, an eerie grin on his face.

The pressure on Speedy disappeared and she fell down on the ground. She rolled around in the dirt and stood up, smiling gleefully. Speedy jumped. "Mommy!"

The purple boy jerked. "It talks!?" he shrieked, completely forgetting that mommy would skin him from his stupidity.

Speedy smirked.

"Yes- _she_ does," Sasuke replied pleasantly and twisted the boy's arm and with a jerk he pushed his face to the ground. The boy screamed like the herbivore he obviously was. "And she has this odd bruise on her that wasn't there a minute ago- I _wonder_ where it came from?"

"Hey!" The female one shouted, gripping the thing on her back, "Back off!"

"Your friend wanted to eat a summoning animal," Sasuke glared at her, "You should be more careful when you're in another village."

"Ah!" the boy yelped, his body being locked.

Something made a cracking sound in his back. "I should stab you. But that would hurt and I'd feel bad afterwards, so I'm going to be nice- like always." Sasuke released the purple painted foreigner and stepped away, holding up his hands innocently, Speedy stepped up besides him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he skidded to a stop by them. He was followed closely by Sakura and Yuuka. "Don't just disappear like that!"

"Hey Naruto." Greeted Sasuke pleasantly and waved at his teammates.

"You're a psycho." the cat suited boy growled, preparing to attack him with the wrapped up thing on his back.

 _I was right! It was chakra strings._ Sasuke thought when he saw the fine threads of chakra.

Sasuke frowned at the boys readiness to attack, his red eyes shining with a bit of chakra. _I hate fighting…_ he thought in annoyance. _But that jerk was going to eat Speedy so I guess I can make some exceptions…_

"Kankuro, stop it." the girl hissed.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, he was preparing to help Sasuke, he already had several seals ready to be used. "Please stay back."

He had his back to Kankuro and the boy's hands twitched, chakra strings surrounding Sasuke. "Jeez," Sasuke muttered and twisted his feet around, turning his whole body towards the boy again. Pressing his chakra against the strings, Sasuke released his arms. Sasuke quickly gripped the boy's arms, holding them above his head. They stood nose to nose, almost touching. "Well I never took myself as the kinky type. But I guess this is kinda kinky."

The boy was staring fearfully into his red eyes as if he was seeing someone else. He tried to pull away but Sasuke kept him standing only a hair away from touching his nose. "Gaar-"

"Apologise to Speedy, you're a foreign shinobi and can't do what you want in the village - be happy it was me and not an ANBU that stopped you." With his piece said, Sasuke let go of Kankuro and he fell down on his ass in shock.

Sasuke looked away, nodding slightly at the ANBU standing watch, ready to interfere.

Kankuro looked at Speedy's reptilian eyes, "So-sorry." he choked out.

Speedy hummed, accepting his apology with a nod.

"You're a disgrace to our village." a raspy voice growled.

The two sand shinobi froze and Sasuke looked past their heads.

"Hi!" It was a boy around his age with red hair, no eyebrows, he looked like a panda and the word love on his head in red. _Strange_. _But he's adorable! I want to hug him!_

"Ga- Gaara…" Kankuro said in dread.

Gaara gave a death glare. "Losing control of yourself in a fight. How pathetic."

"I have to stop you there," Sasuke blurted excitedly before he could stop himself, "But you're adorable - like Naruto level of adorable. Can I hug you?"

Sasuke wept inside. _Naruto never liked me enough for it not to be awkward and now we're teammates… wait._

Sasuke turned around, his whole body a blur. "You didn't hear that!" Sasuke exclaimed at the equally red faced Naruto. Naruto stammered and Sasuke turned back, so he did not need to face the beast.

Gaara was dumbfounded.

"No. I'll kill you."

Sasuke hung his head and looked at Speedy, she was staring owlishly up at him, blinking.

"We got here early," Gaara said, "Let's go."

"I kno-"

"Wait!" Sasuke gasped, stopping them, "I'll show you three around! Intervillage relationships are important!" _and I'll have plenty of time to make Gaara hug me…_

"Hey Sasuke…" Naruto whispered in his ear, "That Gaara guy doesn't feel right…"

"What about him?" Sasuke asked and made a look of fake schok, "Don't tell me you're jealous!" Sasuke exclaimed and hugged Naruto.

Sakura slapped her face in the distance.

"We accept." Gaara stated in the same hoarse voice.

"Jackpot~!" Sasuke grinned.

"Damit." Yuuka slapped her face in the distance.

"Hi Sand shinobi!" Sasuke bowed to them and took the girl's hand in his. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, who might you be my lady?"

She blushed ever so slightly. "Temari."

 _Still got it!_ Sasuke kissed her hand and quickly took Gaara's, "Hello!" he greeted, "Let's hug!"

"He's touching him!" Kankuro hissed.

"I can see that!"

Sand suddenly pushed Sasuke away, throwing him into a wall.

Naruto slapped his face in the distance.

"Rejected!" Speedy shouted.

"I'm not a masochist…" Sasuke muttered as carefully he peeled himself of the wall.

"Yes you are." Naruto muttered and pulled his stupid teammate off the wall.

"Did he lose some brain cells as a child?" Temari whispered to Sakura.

"Yes."

Sasuke ignored them and looked at Gaara with determination. "I will hug you- even if it's the last I do."

" _Mother_ wants your blood." Kankuro and Temari shivered at his tone.

Sasuke pouted. "Play in hard to get I see!" grinned and turned to the two other sand genin, scooping Speedy up into his arms. "Tour time!"

* * *

"Is he the one?" A genin said, watching Sasuke lead the sand genin out on a tour of Konoha.

"Yes," His teammate- if they could even call themselves that replied, "Sasuke Uchiha…"

"He's like you right?" The female asked, her headband had a sound note on it.

"No," The boy smirked, "He's a weakling… but that other boy..."

The girl frowned. "What about him?"

"I'm not sure… yet."

* * *

"Here you go." Kakashi-sensei said pleasantly as he handed the flyers to them.

"Chunin exams?" Naruto asked, reading the title, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Their sensei nodded his silver haired head. "I think it will be a good challenge for the four of you. All the information is on the paper." Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of chakra as Naruto tried to catch him in a hug. The blonde fell flat on his face instead.

Sasuke sighed loudly and sat down on the guard rail. "Ugh, shit." he groaned, his annoyance clear as he slumped. _I had so hoped not to be offered the chance so early._

"Sasuke-kun? Don't you want to become a Chunin?" Sakura asked confused, she was excited at the thought of going up the rankings herself. She also knew Naruto would never pass up a chance to be Chunin, and Yuuka would follow her.

"Not really, no," He smiled at them and jumped down from the rail, "I don't like responsibility."

 _I say and take over a company… then again I do have Jeraru pretty much running that for me._ Sasuke thought to himself and snickered. _I'm so lazy._

Sakura looked at Naruto and he nodded. "We'll wait if you want." He said, slightly dejected.

Sasuke looked at him in surprise. "I'd like that," he admitted and held out a fist, "But my slaves probably do want to join- so I will join for you guys."

"Thanks man." Naruto grinned and fist bumped Sasuke with Yuuka and Sakura joining in.

"Guess Termari-san and her team is going to be our enemy," Sakura suddenly grinned devilish, "Let's beat them down."

"But I wanted to hug Gaara…"

"Don't ruin the moment."

* * *

Sakura froze when she walked up the stairs, the hairs on her body stood up.

"Seriously?" She hissed.

Sakura looked at the group crowding the room labeled 301 in shock. They were only on the second floor and people were _still_ crowding the obviously fake room, trying to get in.

"What's wrong-" Sasuke followed closely behind her and he choked, giggling loudly at the panic in front of them.

Several heads turned to them, frowning in annoyance and whispers broke out between those that noticed them.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, "What's wrong?"

" _Oh my God_." Sasuke gasped as his laughter intensified and he almost fell down, holding on to a window weakly.

"I missed something." Naruto deadpanned.

"You did," Sakura giggled slightly as she helped Sasuke to his feet, "Should we tell them?"

"Tell them what?"

"That- that we're on th- the _second_ floor." Sasuke gasped out between bursts of laughter.

"What? But- oh." Naruto's face changed from confusion to denial to amusement in a short time.

Sakura grinned at him. "Yeah."

"We should tell them," Naruto frowned, "It's not nice to trick them all like that."

"They deserve to fail if they couldn't even see though a simple genjutsu." Sakura scrunched up her nose and stared pointedly at Naruto.

"Thanks."

Sakura thought it over. "Well if we do tell them, then we'll know what teams are the weaker ones. Which gives us an advantage."

"Well let's go then!" Sasuke exclaimed and pushed the two towards the group of genin impatiently.

"Isn't that Lee-kun?" Sakura was surprised to see him on the ground, a bruise on his cheek. He was being held up by a brown haired girl. _She must be Tenten._ In front of them was two genin, grinning smugly at them as they told the two that they should give up.

"It is!" Sasuke gasped, "I wonder what he's doing on the ground? Did he join a kinky floor loving club?" he theorised as he pushed his way through the crowd.

Lee looked up in surprise as Sasuke fell down besides him, he grabbed the green boy's hands eagerly. "Tell me how to join the kinky floor loving club!" He ignored the vaguely familiar genin by the door as they jerked in surprise.

"Sasuke-kun!" Lee shouted with passion and scoped Sasuke into a hug. "You look youthful today! But there is no Kinky floor loving club!"

"Aww man…" Sasuke sulked.

Tenten winced as Lee noticed the rest of team 7. He immediately jumped up on his and began hugging them, much to the pink haired girl's horror. She froze at the contact of spandex on skin and normal clothes.

"This is why you don't train with them... Remember it to your deathbed." Sakura reminded herself as she shuddered.

"Alright!" Naruto shouted loudly, making sure everyone would hear. He pointed at the door guarded by two older kids. "There's a genjutsu on that door! This is the second floor!"

"That rhythmed!" Sasuke shouted and made a dramatic echo. Neji twitched besides Sasuke, holding a hand to his ear. Sasuke smiled pleasantly at Neji and he glared darkly in return.

Murmurs broke out around them, disbelief was a recurring topic among the genin.

"That's impossible."

"I would have-"

"How did brats like that notice when we couldn't?"

"How did that freak find out?"

"Haven't you heard? They've already finished two-"

"This is ridiculous."

"Se-seriously? T-two A Rank mi-mis-missions?"

"It's Uchiha-sama, no wonder they saw the genjutsu."

"So you noticed?" The boy without stickers on his face closed his eyes as the genjutsu fell away, revealing the number 201 where 301 had once stood.

"No," Naruto admitted sourly and and jerked back when a foot was suddenly in his face, just a centimeter away. Naruto jumped away in surprise, almost falling on his ass.

"Hey jerkface," Sasuke growled at the boy and flipped his ankle around, sending the boy crashing to the floor, "He's my kinky plaything. Not yours."

"I don't know if I should be insulted or grateful." Naruto said.

"I'd go with greatful…" Sasuke hissed slowly and the attacking boy slowly crawled back to the other. The two older boys then proceeded to slither back behind the door without another word.

The confused genin watching them began slowly moving on to the correct floor to continue the test, leaving team 7 along with Lee, Neji and Tenten alone in the empty hallway.

"So…" Sasuke drawled, getting an annoyed twitch from Sakura and a dirty look thrown his way, "What's for dinner? Neji's dignity?"

"No." Neji growled, his pale eyes shooting lightning at Sasuke. He turned and left, confident that his team would follow him.

"I'll kick your ass!" Sasuke growled, deciding to get it out while he could, "Or Hinata will!"

Neji turned slowly, a smirk forming on his lips. "I'd like to see you try, fate has already declared me the strongest."

"Really? That's the best you can do?" Sasuke snorted. "What are you? Two?"

Neji was about to resort when Sasuke cut in.

"Oh I'm sorry, I was supposed to insult you not two year olds." Sasuke apologised.

Neji snapped turning on his toes, he stalked right back. "What is your problem?" he hissed, probably embarrassed to have the confrontation with watchers.

Sasuke didn't care, he had his embarrassment beat out of himself.

Sasuke crossed his arms when Neji entered his personal bubble, white eyes glaring. While Hinata had slightly lavender eyes, Neji's were grey white. It was strange how all the main house Hyuuga had a color to their eyes while all the others had grey white, it was almost like the seal messed with their eyes.

"I think you know 'Mister blames Hina for something she wasn't even _old enough_ to prevent.'"

Neji grabbed him by his shirt, snarling. "You know _nothing_ of what happened back then!"

"And of course you do," Sasuke activated his Sharingan, intimidation tactics number three, aka the last of three he has, "You're a whole year older than her, so of course you're like a _god_ in comparison."

Neji _growled_. "You're a _naive child_." with that said, he turned and walked away.

 _I'll count that as a win._

Lee finally looked at them when Tenten shook her head, awkwardly following Neji. Lee flashed a smile, his thumb pointing up. "Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun Let's meet in the exams and have a youthful-"

"Youth!" Sasuke suddenly shouted and Lee stopped mid sentence.

"Youth!" he screamed in return, forgetting about what he was about to say.

Sakura slapped herself.

* * *

"Hello team." Kakashi walked out the shadows, his book in his face and a smile in his eye.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei." Sakura greeted.

He looked them over. "So you all came, even you Sasuke."

Sasuke scoffed. "Of course I did."

"That's good since had one of you not shown up, I'd have been forced to fail you."

"What!?" Naruto shouted, "You never said anything about that! You didn't even say anything useful!"

"I didn't? Must have slipped my mind."

"Damit sensei!"

"Anyway," Kakashi closed his book and pocketed his hands, "Since you're all here that means you're ready to begin. So get in and get your ass kicked so you can crawl back to me."

"..."

"No." Sasuke frowned.

"Thanks." Sakura finished as they made their way to the door leading to the exam. _**To destiny.**_ Yuuka whispered in her head.

Kakashi smiled. "You three are so cute." He watched the three disappear behind the door and grinned to himself.

"Give them hell."

* * *

"Uhhh…" Naruto hesitated at the door.

Inside the room was square tables lined up in several rows, they were sat at, sat on and leaned against by tons of genin of all ages. Most of the genin turned to glare menacingly at them at once, sneers on their lips. Their headbands marring different symbols to symbolise the different villages in the Chunin exams.

"Oh look it's a party."

Sakura slapped him on his arm. "Quiet Sasuke, you didn't even want to join."

"So nice, Sakura." Sasuke mumbled as he rubbed his arm miserably.

"Be silent stand in." Naruto shushed as he slapped Sasuke's other arm as they moved through the room.

"Sasuke-kun!" Purple clad arms sneaked around Sasuke's body and squeezed him. Ino let him go and looked at him, continuing happily, "It's been such a long time!"

"Hey Ino." Sasuke held up a hand and she eagerly high fived it.

"Ino-pig… get away from my teammate…" Sakura's hair stood at their roots. "We talked about this… he's off limits."

"Oh if it isn't the forehead," Ino purred, slipping in front of Sasuke, oh teasing Sakura with Sasuke was such a joy, "I almost didn't smell your stench from over here."

"Ha? You're the one rubbing your sweat all over Sasuke, don't you think you should look at yourself?"

"Oi…" Sasuke hissed at the two girls, but was ignored.

"Oh? So you weren't the one that bathed in dirty water?"

"Where did you hear that!?"

"Who knows…"

"Man this is such a drag… you guys joined too?" Shikamaru followed closely by his teammate with Choji in tow.

"Hey guys!" Naruto grinned happily at the familiar faces.

"It's Naruto." Choji greeted between his enthusiastic consuming of chips.

Sasuke looked between the two groups. "I'm being ignored…"

"I wouldn't say you did not deserve it." Hands scratched his sides, exactly where he was ticklish.

Sasuke gasped between laughter, it could only be one person, "Hin-Hina- stop."

"Noooo," She whispered slowly but still , "I will extract revenge and restore my honor."

It took all Sasuke had to remain his composure as Hinata's teammates joined them, kiba declaring his superiority loudly. His instincts demanding that he let's his challenge for alpha be heard.

Hinata finally let up and Sasuke breathed in relief. "I will get revenge…" he hissed as she fluttered past him to join her team.

"Sasuke-kun?" The surprised voice made Sasuke turn in shock.

" _Nami?_ " There they were, the kumo team from their first c rank, Nami, G and Aimi.

"It's good to see you again!" Nami purred like a _cat_ and hugged his arm, deliberately squeezing his arm between her breasts, "It's _very_ good to see you…"

 _Why is it always me?_ Sasuke didn't say anything and put his hands in his pockets. _Now people will think I'm a playboy… eh, maybe I have become one…_ He shuddered at the thought.

She fiddled playfully with his duck butt hair, "I absolutely _love_ what you did with your hair…"

"Nami, please release him." G blushed in embarrassment at the way his teammate was acting.

"You're just jealous." She leered.

G looked away, whispering quietly. "Mabye…"

"Who the hell are you!?" Ino shrieked as she advanced, her steeps making loud noises in the deadly silent room.

Nami released an arm from Sasuke and held out a hand to the blonde girl. "Hello, My name is Nami Nagisa."

Ino immediately withdrew her hand, taking a fearful step back. There was no doubt that she recognized Nami's last name.

Nami leaned her shoulder against Sasuke's, she closed one eye. "Don't worry, the exams haven't started yet."

"Alright," Sasuke muttered and pushed her away from him, "That's enough of that…"

"This is so troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered.

"How were you even allowed to come?" Sakura asked, "Kumo and Konoha haven't been at each other's Chunin exams since before the third great war."

"We're taking a leap, and A-sama only send us anyway, so if something happened then it wouldn't be too much of a loss." Aimi explained.

"So Jiji stopped being mean?"

Nami snorted to herself. "Like the Hokage would do that."

"A bit." G answered instead.

"Hey," Yet another familiar voice joined them and Sasuke (and the rest but they didn't count) turned around around, a smile forming on his lips, "You guys should quiet down."

"Kabuto-san!" Sasuke greeted his older friend, "How've you been?"

Kabuto smiled. "I've been good, what's it been? Two-three weeks?" the older boy then frowned, "But seriously, look behind you. This isn't the time to be acting like small kids."

They all turned around, even the team from Kumo and looked at the continued glaring. Most of them edged away from the eyes.

"I did say it was a party." Sasuke shrugged.

"Shut it Sasuke." Naruto growled, sweat rolling down his forehead from the intense emotions directed at him.

Kabuto continued his speech. "Everyone's nervous about the exam, and this is you guy's first time, so I can't really blame you for being ignorant. It reminds me of when I started out as a genin and tried the exams the first time."

"That's right!" Sasuke made a snapping sound as he silently snapped his finger, "This should be your eighth time, right?"

"Seventh actually," Kabuto corrected smoothly, "It's held twice a year so this is my fourth year."

"Wow, you must suck." Naruto said bluntly.

Kabuto sweat dropped. "But it also means I know a lot about this exam, I can share some information with you rookies," he took out a set of cards, "All the information is in these nin cards."

He crouched down and explained the use of his cards, how chakra was needed to display the information. Naruto looked on with rapt attention, the older boy was nice and the nin cards were a trick he would like to learn. Maybe he could get Sasuke to copy it?

A quick look to Sasuke, a nod and a long discreet staring of Sharingan later, his friend had copied the jutsu for him. Naruto grinned. "That's what I keep you for." He mouthed.

"Thanks." Sasuke mouthed back.

"So you have information on _everything_?" Hinata asked dubious.

"Yes- even you guys," he dramatically pulled a card from the stack and showed it to them, a picture of Hinata was on it with a stat circle of sorts. He gave her the card politely, making sure no one saw her info, "If you want to check out anyone, just tell me."

"Sasuke Uchiha." Kiba said and Sasuke threw him a dirty look.

"You do that and my ghost _will_ haunt you forever." Sasuke promised darkly, but it was too late. The card was already on top and Sasuke snatched it up before the others could see his information. It was showing oddly inaccurate info about him. The only true thing about it was his team, missions, (And how did Kabuto know he had two A ranks) his specialty in medical ninjutsu and there was even a theory that he might be "The Puppet Master" because of his hair, which was true.

"That's so horribly wrong," Hinata whispered, looking over his shoulder, she drew in the attention of those around her, "Sasuke can't throw a kunai to save his life."

Hinata returned the card and Kabuto sighed embarrassedly. "Well they are your official files, mixed with your academy records. So if, say, your sensei haven't updated them, then the information will be wrong."

Sakura looked at the cards and asked the relevant question. "Can you show us the biggest threats here?"

"The biggest threats?" Kabuto did his little dramatic pull and showed them four cards, five teams. Two cards with konoha teams, one with sand and one with cloud.

"Oh, look it's us!" Aimi said, noticing the card with his team's basic information. Names, small charts with stats, (there was a question mark on the stats) rank and basic information that wouldn't really be any help.

"...And us." it was Naruto this time.

Sakura scrunched her face in confusion at the card, it showed some very inaccurate information on her whole team. Had Kakashi-sensei _forgotten_ to update their info, but why were they in the 'dangerous' category then? "Why?"

"You've completed two A ranks," Kabuto smiled at them and spread the cards out, the other cards had Lee, Neji and Tenten's team and Gaara's team, "Something some Chunin never achieve."

"Wow… Sakura's team is amazing…" Ino mumbled, she had heard about team 8's A Rank with team 7 but nothing about another. It made her feel left behind, pushed away from the spotlight she loved so much. Her team was behind their peers in every aspect, it was sombering to actually experience the difference.

"Leaf, sand, cloud, rain, grass, waterfall and sound… outstanding genin from all these different villages are all here to take the exams, it's not just these four teams that's the elite genin. Everyone here is," Kabuto paused, taking in their expressions, "Well… the hidden sound is a small village created just last year, so there isn't much information… But the rest of the villages are all filled with extraordinary youngsters who has been genin for a long time."

He let them take in the information. "This isn't a game, it's a matter of life and death."

Sasuke frowned at his speech. "Jeez Kabuto, tone down on the horror story."

The bespectacled boy ducked his head slightly and smiled oppolicetic. "Sorry Sasuke, but it is true you know?"

"Ha… We won't lose to these people, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted, loudly, but not too loud.

Sasuke and Sakura grinned at their teammates attitude and then, out of nowhere, a girl jumped over them. She threw several senbon at Kabuto, the older boy jumped back, skidding out of the range of the onslaught of pointy weapons. A different genin with a strange fur coat jumped in front of Kabuto and swung his fist at the boy.

Kabuto just managed to dodge in time but his glasses suddenly cracked a few seconds later as Akamaru and Kiba both yelped, clasping their hands (or paws) over their ears.

"That's not nice." Sasuke commented as he looked down at Kabuto, annoyed at the fighting. Did genin really have to attack each other to prove shit?

Kabuto doubled over, gasping at Sasuke's feet and he only just barely managed to jump back or his boots would have been covered in puke.

"He threw up!" Naruto exclaimed helpfully as Sasuke immediately crouched down to help Kabuto. Discreetly, Sasuke used a diagnosis jutsu and looked around Kabuto's body.

The older boy smiled in thankfulness as Sasuke began healing what he had predicted and confirmed to be sonic damage on his body. Sound attacks from the hidden sound.

Sasuke was about to look up at the attackers when Mister Shadow suddenly spoke.

" **Don't look up."**

I took everything Sasuke had not to react or look up at Mister Shadows sudden command.

 _Why not?_

" **Just do as I say!"**

 _Fine._

Sasuke kept his head low, slowly fixing the damage they had done to Kabuto. His hands only glowing an almost unnoticeable red.

"This is pathetic," A voice growled over them and Sasuke finally looked up at the three genin from sound, "You're supposed to be a four year veteran?" The one talking was the creepy guy with the large fur coat and Sasuke recognised the girl as the one who had thrown the senbon.

He recognized the second boy, who was staring intently at him too. But not like he recognised the other two's appearance, looking at the boy send a shiver down Sasuke's spine and he knew where he had felt the feeling before. Mark had felt the same. He had short light brown hair with a tint of gold and brown eyes and was clad in a black tank top, boots and cargo pants with the same cow patterned scarf as the two other genin.

" **That's fucking why."**

The boy who was like Sasuke and Mark grinned nastily at Kabuto and Sasuke, his teeth was rotten. "Ya should write down the truth. The sound genin is gonna be Chunin. _Understand?_ " His words turned into a hiss of English at the end.

Naruto tensed besides Sasuke, feeling the boy's intent in his bones. Naruto felt lightheaded and bile rose in his throat as the sound genins attention suddenly transferred from Sasuke and Kabuto to him.

The sound nin was about to open his mouth when a cloud of chakra exploded in the other end of the room, followed by a loud voice. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!"

* * *

Speedy was running, her nostrils straight up in the air, following a particular scent.

Mommy had told her to stay with Jeraru, so she had of course run off the moment he was making too much noise.

She burst past the herbivores and ran up the stairs, slamming her shoulder into a door as she jumped up and pulled on the handle with her jaw. It swung open and she jumped of, landing awkwardly.

The humans all stared at her as Speedy looked up in delight. She found her target.

"Old man Kakashi!" She jumped on the spot a few times, trying to look taller.

Kakashi blinked at her. "Speedy? Shouldn't you be with Jeraru?"

"No!" Speedy denied quickly, "Uncle Jeraru is _boring_! So mommy wanted me with you!"

"Why do I find that so hard to believe?"

She tilted her head. "I don't know! I'm not a mind reader!"

The other male human coughed and Speedy's head snapped to the side, blinking, she looked back to Kakashi. "Is it alright?"

"Ah." Kakashi smiled.

The human coughed again, louder this time.

"You should get that looked at." Speedy told it, it would be sad for more prey to die because they didn't take care of themselves.

"Yes," It said rather embarrassedly for some unknown reason, "Uh… what are you?"

Speedy scowled and puffed her feathers. "Not _what_ , I'm a who and I'm Speedy, the biggest badest and most dangerous person you'll _ever_ meet."

Asuma stared down the small creature obviously trying to look big by puffing up its own feathers. It wasn't working. "My name is Asuma Sarutobi."

"Prey!" Speedy shouted as she jumped, prey did not have names.

"Aaa… Speedy?" Kakashi interrupted her, "Why did you come?"

"Oh! Right!" She had completely forgotten _why_ she was looking for Kakashi! Her mood turned sour in seconds. "Why did you put mommy in the Chunin exams!? I'm not going to see him for days now!"

Kakashi smiled. "Well I thought it would be sad if they had to endure another half year of D-ranks, so I did the right thing and had them join."

"You're shitting me?" it was Asuma who talked and Speedy glared at the prey. Prey shouldn't talk.

The dangerous female one coughed slightly and Speedy wondered it there was a virus going around. Maybe she should leave to avoid getting sick. "That was not what you told Iruka-sensei when he tried to have them wait another year."

"Maaa… They are ready regardless."

"Mommy always trips over his own feet!" Speedy inserted.

"...Yes he does." Kakashi admitted.

The prey looked at Kakashi doubtedly. "Kakashi, are you sure it's responsible to let a genin who… trips over his own feet in the exam?"

The dangerous female frowned. "Which one is mommy? Naruto Uzumaki?"

"No, 'mommy' is Sasuke-"

"-Mommy is mommy!" Speedy snapped, her tail lashing.

" _Sasuke Uchiha stumbles_?" The dangerous one asked in disbelief.

"Mommy tries to be cool!" Speedy was happy to cause future embarrassment to her mommy, "But he's really pathetic!"

"That's some big words Speedy."

"Jeraru taught me all about ruining Mommy's image!"

"That was very kind of him." Kakashi responded, unable to really reply differently.

* * *

22 minutes.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. Why was the rules so Goddamn stupid!? He glared at the paper with four of the nine questions answered.

He needed five more to pass.

He couldn't answer them.

25 minutes.

Glancing over to Sakura, Sasuke noted that she wouldn't be the reason they might fail.

He looked at Naruto's panicked back. The two of them would be the real reason if they failed in the first test.

 _30 points my ass._ Sasuke grumbled angrily and looked at the clock. It had been an half hour since Ibiki - who from what Anko had told him was a crazy ass like herself - had begun the way too difficult test.

34 minutes and people was begun cheating around him, Akamaru was telling Kiba answers, Shino's insects were doing the same, Gaara was doing some weird eye thing, Shikamaru was controlling Choji, Naruto was panicking, Ino was stealing the answers from Sakura and Sasuke was thinking that they should already have failed.

There must have been more to the test than just answering questions. The Chunin examiners were clearly ignoring the fact that people were cheating.

Maybe they were _supposed_ to cheat?

But that made _no sense_.

39 minutes. Several teams had already been thrown out.

Naruto stopped his panicked jitters. The blonde boy looked around the others and stood up without a word when he found what he was looking for.

Everyone looked at him, pencils stopped moving as he walked past two genin and snatched a test paper from a brunette.

"Sorry." Naruto muttered and returned to his seat.

"Genin," Ibiki's voice made most of the genin jump in surprise, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Well I was losing two points," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "So that means eight points. Right?"

"Crafty," Ibiki praised and glared out at the genin, "But just so you guys don't get any ideas. The next genin who takes another's paper fails."

The test continued and Sasuke was now the person who would cause his team to fail.

He should have asked Kakashi-sensei about copying movement. Not that it would have mattered now.

Most of the genin that hadn't been disqualified were done writing.

43 minutes and he was no closer to answering the last questions.

45 minutes and Ibiki looked out over them, a serious but sadistic look on his face. "Alright, we will now begin the tenth question."

 _This is my only chance! I can't mess this shit up or Naruto, Yuuka and Sakura cannot become Chunin._

"Before we get to it," Ibiki said after leaving them enough time to let the information sink in, "I'd like to go over some new rules to this question."

He diverted his attention from them when the door opened, Kankuro walking in with a fake instructor - and how did he even get away with that? - in tow.

Ibiki swept past the blackboard, his coat making a dramatic wave. "Now then, I'll explain the rules."

He made another giant pause and Sasuke was really beginning to think that he was mentally deciding every word, using minutes to just say something like, "Hi my name is Ass face."

Ibiki turned with a dramatic wave of his coat and glared out at them. "These are the rules of… desperation."

Jounin probably took courses in being dramatic.

"But first, you must decide if you will take it or not." his announcement was met with cries of outrage, asking why they wouldn't choose to take the last question.

Temari stood up in fury. "Choose!? What happens if we choose not to!?" she demanded hotly.

Ibiki sent a glance of death and infinite destruction from the fires of hell in a bottle of beetlejuice, her way and Temari sat down warily. "If you choose not to take it, your points will automatically be reduced to zero." He loosened his deathly glare, "You fail, along with your two teammates."

"Then why would we choose not to!?" A genin shouted in understandable frustration, the torture expert taking too long to continue.

"And now then…" Ibiki ignored the genin. "The other rule."

He paused again and Sasuke was certain, Jonin went to drama school.

Or it was some form of torture.

"if you choose to take it and answer incorrectly…" He paused and Sasuke resisted the burning urge to slam his head down into the table. It wouldn't do if the table broke from the impact. "That person will lose the right to take the Chunin exams ever again!"

 _...That's bullshit, no one is going to fall for that shit._

Then the genin began shouting and Sasuke twitched in irritation. How could they not see that the guy was messing with them.

Ibiki began talking again, glaring at Kiba. "You guys were unlucky. This time it's my rules," He looked out over them all, "But I am giving you a way out."

He paused, everyone's attention focused solely on the man. "Those who aren't confident can drop out, and try again next year."

A pause made Sasuke grit his teeth. Slight panic was natural, they would probably realise Ibiki's lies by the time he was done monologuing.

"Now. Let's begin the tenth question."

Another made him tug on his hair. They needed a lot of contestants for when they did the final test, the fighting in the arena. It was a goldmine of jutsus for someone with a Sharingan.

Too bad Sasuke was bad at copying.

"Those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

And he was done.

Sasuke sighed in relief, God, if he had let Anko take him with her to work like she had wanted to he might have gone on a massacre like his crazy ass big Bro.

Someone sitting besides Naruto raised his hand. "I…" he mumbled and his muscles tensed, "I WON'T TAKE IT!" he screamed and this time Sasuke's self control snapped.

His face met the table in a clash of wills. The wood gave up in a matter of nanoseconds and the table split in half, surprising the grass genin besides Sasuke.

He looked up from the mess he made, blood running slowly down his face. The genin was staring and Sakura, Hinata and the examiners was glaring quietly at him for interrupting the elimination.

"What are you doing genin?" Ibiki growled it out, a vein pulsing on his forehead.

"Sorry," Sasuke apologised and held a hand to his forehead, "It's just that everyone here is stupid as fuck."

 _Begin operation get more sacrifices for the next test._

"Hey!" The genin in front of Sasuke turned around, murder in his eyes, "Who the fuck are you calling stupid pretty boy!?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Don't tell me you really think a _Jonin_ can decide who gets promoted or not, even if he could for us Konoha genin. There's no chance he could make the leaders of other villages do the same." Sasuke paused out of spite for the glaring Ibiki, "It's idiotic to assume he has that much political power, and even if he manages to do it. The leaders can always field promote you if becoming Chunin is really _that_ important."

Ibiki watched him, analyzing the genin in the room. None of them was shaking or afraid.

 _Take that you over dramatic ass face._

"I should fail you," He said to Sasuke and looked the Genin besides Naruto, he had sat down again, no one had managed to leave, "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't."

Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't break the rules."

Ibiki looked away from sasuke smirked slightly at the confidence the Genin around the room was gaining as they thought over Sasuke's words.

"Good decisions… now those of you still remaining," A creepy smile spread out over his face, "I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

"What!?" Sakura shrieked, "What about the tenth question!?"

Ibiki creepy smile turned goofy, which was really that much more terrifying . "There was no tenth question."

The room erupted with chaos.

Sasuke zoned out, sensing another long speech in the horizon. He could almost feel it crawling up his skin with slimy speech.

* * *

 _Ha- no way! I won and you know that!_ Sasuke glared at the walls crumbling paint.

Mister Shadow pushed angrily at Sasuke's mind. " _ **The hell you didn't you bitch! I was the one that said the boy was from grass not you!"**_

 _You're just a sore loser._ Sasuke pointed out and winced, _What are you doing!? Why do I suddenly crave mushrooms?! I loathe mushrooms!_

" _ **Not anymore you don't."**_

Sasuke's resident head pain laughed and continued his messing around with Sasuke's mind.

" _Could you stop that!?"_ Sasuke snapped out loud, his right eye had slowly begun darkening and Sasuke really did not want to go half blind in the middle of the Chunin exams.

"Stop what?" a voice asked with a growl and Sasuke focused back on his surroundings, Ibiki was glaring down at him. Sasuke looked past the man to see his teammates face palming.

Sasuke leaned forwards and motioned for Ibiki to come closer. When the large man didn't move Sasuke whispered. "The voices in my head told me to break the window or someone's leg… and they _really_ want it done."

The boy and girl besides him edged away.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha. Right?"

"No- we are Sasuke Uchiha 1.2."

"Anko told me about you-" he paused and looked away. Sasuke twitched, the damned guy did it again.

The window exploded inwards and Sasuke grinned, sending a self satisfied smirk at Ibiki. He could always count on Anko. "See? I told you… they really wanted it done." Sasuke had felt her chakra flare earlier and knowing Anko as the psycho she was, Sasuke knew she'd do _something_.

That she broke the window as he had just talked about was a bonus.

Anko threw out kunai and fastened a banner on the ceiling and floor. "This is no time to celebrate!" She announced, taking a look around the room. Anko faltered.

"Did I come too early?"

Ibiki left Sasuke's table. "No, the first test is done."

"You must be getting impotent in your old age," Anko snarked and Sasuke began losing his sight on his left eye, "You left 37 teams."

" _Stop it!"_ Sasuke hissed under his breath when he couldn't see at all.

"Alright brats! Listen up!" Anko's voice was loud with a hint of annoyance, "Meet me tomorrow at the 44th training ground for the second test and I'll cut you in half. _At least!_ You're all dismissed, get out of my face."

There was confused whispering as the genin all around Sasuke began leaving.

"Sasuke," It was Naruto, "We're supposed to go now."

"Guide me oh blonde prince on the white horse?" Sasuke called out, holding his arms in the direction he guessed Naruto to be.

Naruto huffed at him and walked around his teammate, taking his hand where he was holding them away from him, to guide him out of the room.

 _Jeez it must suck to be Jeraru..._

* * *

 **Authors note:**

No major changes in the Chunin exams yet- it's really one of those things that's beyond Sasuke's range of change. (There's a word for this… I think)

Also, the stealing paper has been used loads of times… I just liked it too much not to include it.

Also again, I hate when I have to copy stuff! Agh! It makes me want to completely skip the first test.

Also (Wink – I did it again) hi dewa95 Here's my answer:*Creepy laugh*

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!


	20. Chapter 20: The forest: Oh Godly snail

_I don't own Naruto? Of course I don't!_

* * *

 **Chapter 20: The forest: Talk to us oh Godly snail**

* * *

Sasuke flipped away as Hinata's palm shot straight for his face and swept his leg up towards her knees. She jumped up over his boot and kicked at his face. "So you didn't cheat?" She concluded as he grabbed her foot and twisted.

"Hell no-" Sasuke grumbled as Hinata landed on her hands and slipped on the wet grass they were sparing on. She let herself slide and used the momentum to roll back towards him in a flexible and smooth move he'd never be able to do.

Hinata grabbed his ankle and yanked him from the ground. "You are a huge loser." She mocked as he landed on his back. He sent a small burst of chakra to his openings on his back and was blown up again.

"No I'm not." Sasuke denied with a small smile as he flew up. Catching the ground with chakra, Sasuke quickly steadied himself on the wet ground before Hinata again attacked.

They quickly fell back into the easy rhythm of sparring, block, dodge, attack, dodge, pull, kick, block, jab, dodge. Sparring with Hinata had become like a dance to the two, the smooth movements were only rarely interrupted by a new trick but that quickly became part of the deadly dance.

A deadly dance Hinata was still better at.

* * *

Sasuke grinned, sweat rolling down his neck as he stretched and grabbed his towel. "What do you think we're going to be doing today? Fight dragons? Save prinsesses? Eat vegetables?"

Hinata hummed as if she was thinking about it and walked past him, he jumped in surprise, earring a weird look from Hinata. "The last one."

"Ah, it will be smooth sailing then," Sasuke smirked and then made the most exaggerated look of horror he could accomplish, "But we're doomed to lose."

Hinata quirked an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked easily and stepped up to him.

" _Well_ -" Sasuke began but stopped when Hinata suddenly snapped her fingers in front of his face. He flinched and frowned when his head was rudely squished between two hands, "Rude." He told her as she stared at him.

Hinata ignored him and a look of carefully, but not carefully enough hidden, rage crossed her face. "When did you do half blind on your right eye? Did someone do this to you? Why didn't you tell me? How long has it been going on?"

"Uh- you repeated the last question twice." Sasuke pointed out, almost unable to talk because of the way she was squishing his face.

She raised an eyebrow up into her hair and Sasuke winked with his bad eye. "I have no idea. I think it's my magical red eyes that are punishing me for not being good enough to be able to use them in the test. Besides, I was _completely_ blind when the last test ended, I'd say that a few eye problems are an improvement."

Hinata gave him a look that told Sasuke that she really didn't believe him and began studying his eyes with her brilliantly creepy ones. She was trying to find something that Sasuke didn't even know what was. Truth was that it was Mister Shadow doing _something,_ but Sasuke hadn't been able to get it out of the bastard. Hinata was about to say something but her head suddenly snapped to the side, staring out into the distance.

She frowned, "Father is coming."

Sasuke carefully peeled Hinata's hands of his face and gave her a worried look before turning in the same direction as Hinata was looking, "He is?"

Sure enough, there the man was in all his pale eyed glory, walking towards them with an almost unnoticeable hunch to his shoulders. He was looking awkwardly at Sasuke's Rainbowheaven of hammocks, trying not to look too interested or disinterested. It hit Sasuke that Hiashi had never seen his training ground before, the place that Hinata spend most her training time.

He stopped by them, dismissing Sasuke with a glance before focusing on his daughter, "Hinata I need to talk to you."

"Yes father." Hinata nodded and followed her father with a brief glance at Sasuke who made a rude gesture. She laughed under her breath before catching up with Hiashi.

He talked for a while as Hinata nodded every now and then, giving him her full attention. He gave her a final and _awkward_ pat and a squeeze on the shoulder before turning to leave, but not before giving Sasuke a look he didn't recognise. It reminded him of disgust, pride, anger and amusement, but that was a very strange combination.

Hinata returned to Sasuke with a worried expression once her father had left. She looked at her hands and clenched them in front of her face. "He said I need to be in the final test, that my future relied on my advancement to chunin."

Sasuke frowned and asked sarcastically. "Was he a cryptic as you?"

Hinata grinned at his tone. "Actually, he gave me all the information I could need. But I decided to be cryptic for your entertainment," she looked out where her father had disappeared between the trees, "But he seemed worried."

Sasuke frowned and spread his arms. "Hug?"

"Yeah." Hinata accepted his hug and embraced him.

Sasuke smiled against Hinata's head but his eyes widened as he realised something. Hiashi had the Byakugan, he had probably seen his _awesome_ gesture behind his back.

"He probably did." Hinata said out of nowhere.

Sasuke patted Hinata's back and scratched her between her shoulder blades."Did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah you did."

* * *

Sasuke looked out over the gathered genin, there were many who seemed ready to go home and cry. There was some who looked like they were ready to go beat up some kids, dark looks on their faces made the teams around them edge away. Then there was the ones that looked like someone had dumped a rainbow with glitter on top of them.

Sakura slapped the back of her hand on her forehead, flabbergasted at the colorful display of genin. "What did you do?" She turned to Naruto and pointed accusingly.

Naruto grinned briefly and held up his hands in surrender, " _I_ didn't do _anything_." he denied.

Sasuke purred, swiping glitter of a genin walking past them and grinned uncontrollably as he spread it out to cover his hands. "I like it."

"See?" Sakura gestured to Sasuke who was carefully rubbing the glitter into his hair. That had to come kick them in the ass later, Sakura decided, reflecting glitter was _bad_ for stealth, "He likes it- now tell us how you did it."

" _I_ _didn't_ do it," Naruto repeated and looked around before leaning in and making a half circle, like he was going to tell them a big secret, "But I know who _did_."

"Well?" Sakura prompted.

"Speak up oh overlord of pranks." Sasuke glided his hand over Naruto's shoulder, getting glitter on the boy.

Naruto grinned and grabbed their heads, he simultaneously shifted their heads towards the place almost every genin was facing. At the large fence separating the training ground from them was two women. They both had short hair and Sasuke stumbled as he recognised the outfits, a look of horror crossing his face.

"No," Sasuke hissed in denial, turning away. It was Anko and Rukia. "We're definitely going to die."

"Shut up, we're not going to die because of Rukia-san." Sakura sighed, rubbing her temples.

Sasuke rounded on her, eyes wide. "Rukia _-san!?_ " he exclaimed in horror.

Naruto flicked them both in the face. "As I was _saying_. I talked to the crazy snake lady yesterday and she allowed me to get Rukia to help me set up a prank for those that came too early."

Sakura muttered quietly under her breath. She looked up, a look of realization in her eyes. " _That's why you wanted to eat so much ramen._ "

"Here I thought it was because you wanted your last meal to be ramen if we died." Sasuke added unhelpfully.

Naruto scratched his neck and looked away awkwardly, but his mouth couldn't stop grinning in satisfaction. "Uh- yeah dattebayo."

A group of genin almost walked into them, they were talking about how the forest was giving them shivers. Sakura snorted when they were out of ears reach. "This place _would_ have been creepy if there wasn't a bunch of brightly colored genin around." she muttered and turned her attention to Anko when she began talking to the gathered genin.

Anko began by firstly introducing the training ground, the forest of death and Naruto winced. The fear in some of genin around them was poking at his empathy in ways he did not need. His own nerves was not doing well under the cloud of emotions and Naruto clenched his jaw defiantly, doing his best not to be affected.

"Hey." A hand landed on his shoulder and calm swept through his system as he looked over to Sasuke. His teammate raised an eyebrow and grinned, then he gestured out to Anko who was holding out some wavers they had to sign. It was a confirmation that the hidden leaf wouldn't be held responsible if they died, it made everything free game once they passed the gates to the forest.

Sasuke muttered something in his private language, but from the tone Naruto did not need empathy to figure out that it was something rude.

Anko swiftly moved onto the rules of the second test. Each team would be handed one of three animals, a snake, a frog or a snail with coded messages on their backs and select teams would randomly be given a scroll to decode the animals message. To pass the test, each team had to be in the tower at the middle within a week with all messages and a scroll for decoding. They got extra points for each alive animal they had with them, but neither Anko or Rukia said what the points were for. But that was not the only thing they could do, Chunin would be out in the forest too, stationed randomly to either give supplies or to attack.

A team would be disqualified if a teammate died or they looked in the scroll.

After turning in their signature and making sure that their letters to loved ones was in place, the team was taken to a tent where they were handed a small cage with a grey snail inside.

Sasuke winced, muttering about kids writing letters in case of their death, like they were going to a war and not an exam.

"So how _do_ you keep a snail alive?" Sakura asked the chunin standing by the gate they would be entering through, "I'm guessing giving the guy leaves and plants won't be enough. Anko wouldn't make it so easy"

"I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell you if you don't know…" The man said awkwardly and looked at the weird kids he had gotten, they seemed odd. The black haired one kept saying weird things, the blonde was that _thing_ and the pink haired one looked like she was having a conversation in her head.

Sasuke gripped Sakura's shoulders from behind and whispered airily, "Don't worry my lady, I have lettuce for all your kinky needs."

Sakura giggled slightly at his tone and turned around to face him. "No kinky things happening here, we decided to go with the natural wildlife." The whole team sneaked a glance at the chunin as she said 'we,' enjoying the way his shoulders thighed in worry.

The snail moved out of its house as the three genin looked at the chunin, it's round eyes bobbed a bit as it focused on Naruto's wide grin. "It moved!"

Sasuke immediately abandoned Sakura to look at the little animal. "Look at those adorable eyes…" Sasuke cooed at the cage.

"Snails are disgusting." Sakura muttered as she watched it retract it's small eyes as Naruto eagerly poked after them.

Sasuke hit Naruto's hand. "Stop that, it's mean."

Naruto slapped Sasuke's hand in return but continued nudging at the snail's head when it did not look out again, it's eyes tucked safely in.

The snail suddenly released a growl that all three of them jump in surprise. "Stop it." it demanded and stared straight at their shocked faces. They took one look at each other before scrambling to get a good view of the cage, crowding around the small box, "...Shit." The snail muttered as it realised its mistake.

Naruto grinned with triumph. "I knew it."

"You're a summon?" Sakura asked, ignoring Naruto's comment. He probably knew it wasn't a normal snail from its array of emotions.

The snail state dully at them for a while before sliding back into its shell. "Che- I'm not supposed to talk to you kids."

Naruto squinted at the cage and muttered. "He went emo on us."

Sasuke frowned and stared out blankly before looking back to the cage. "She's cute." He commented.

Naruto almost flinched at the sharp emotion that shot out of the snail with a shouted. "I'M MALE!"

" _He's_ cute." Sasuke corrected innocently and smirked, he got mr. Snail to talk more.

The chunin looked at the open door behind him and frowned, turning back to the three genin. "Uh- kids?" he waved his hand to get their attention but the three was too engaged in trying to get the summon to talk.

"Hey has anyone ever tried to eat you?" Naruto asked.

Sakura frowned and looked expectantly at Sasuke, holding out her hand. "Yuuka bets that he'll come out if we put salt on him."

The Chunin rubbed sweat from his chin and tried again, calling out for them. "Hey."

They didn't notice him and Naruto gained an evil glint in his eyes, "Maybe he will…"

Sasuke glared at the two, "So mean," He commented and took the cage for himself, scooping it up into his arms. The snail rolled on the grass bottom and stopped when he carefully held it still, cooing down at the snail, "Don't worry I'll protect you from these monsters."

"KIDS!"

The shout shook them out of their harassing, Sasuke almost threw the snail cage across the room. Their heads snapped to him and stared wide eyed. He faltered at their stares and the three turned back to the snail. He took a deep breath, just to calm himself a bit. "THE TEST ALREADY STARTED!"

All three jumped to their feet, whirling around to stare at the open gate with mouths hanging open in surprise. The genin shared a look, like they were mentally communicating before finally speeding past him and through the iron wire gate. The chunin shook his head at their retreating backs as he slowly closed the door. "I should have taken that assassination job." he whispered to himself.

* * *

The team stopped after a few minutes of scouting the immediate area. The trees were large, with vines creeping up the bark, painting the dark color with lime green leaves. Few patches of light came down from above to give life to various plants littering the ground. Bugs crawled over the big leaves of poisonous looking plants, but there was no chirping from birds. They and the bugs were the only living things in the area.

"Sasuke!" Naruto turned to Sasuke and the caged snail with a pointed finger, "Snail duty! Write down the message!"

Sasuke saluted, balancing the cage with one hand, "Aye sir!"

Naruto then turned on Sakura with a gleam in his eyes, "Sakura-chan! Ass kicking duty!"

Sakura nodded and unsealed her bow and quiver, giving the bow a slight spin before saluting like Sasuke. "Yes commander!"

"Commander Naruto!" He addressed himself with a smile and made a large batch of clones, they all saluted when Naruto gave them his order, "Scouting!"

"Yes sir!" The clones transformed into copies of Sasuke and Sakura, animals, rocks and a few into kunai with orange handles, the object clones pulling together in a pile. The clones disguised as the team jumped off, scattering around to bait other teams. Naruto then picked up the newly transformed kunai and gave some to Sakura.

Sasuke pouted. "What about me?" he asked with a fake hurt and sniffed fakely, "I need Naruto weapons too."

Sakura scowled, "I don't want more memories of your bad kunai throwing, I get embarrassed just by seeing it."

"Fine," Sasuke muttered and suddenly snapped his head to the side when a small noise caught his attention. His body shifted, ready for a fight as he called out, "Naruto."

Naruto frowned and looked in the same direction, he shook his head after a few seconds. "It was probably just an old branch giving after."

They continued walking for a while, keeping a slow pace as thick fog began obscuring their surroundings. Naruto tensed, stopping as he picked up something larger than a bug. Sasuke and Sakura didn't need any words as they turned their backs to his, forming a triangle. "An animal I think." Naruto muttered. He wasn't sure, the animal was intelligent if it's emotions were something to go on. But it could just as well be a shinobi with a knack for sharpening useful emotions.

A pair of yellow eyes glew from the fog. Sakura readied an arrow and aimed at the eyes in a second, holding it. "Ready."

The eyes drew nearer and a dog-like snout began becoming visible among the mist. The gray white fur of the animal blended it perfectly with the mist. They wouldn't have noticed if not for its eyes and Naruto's emotion sensing, they might have been dead. It growled, showing rows of sharp yellowed teeth.

"It's a wolf." Sasuke muttered as he recognised the oversized animal.

More growls joined the first as smaller wolves joined it, surrounding the three. They were of all colors, from some with brown coat to grey, but none had white like the alpha. Sasuke hugged the snail cage awkwardly to his chest with one hand and held out two knives. He was about to throw one when Naruto stepped out of formation, his left hand outstretched towards the biggest wolf. "Naruto?"

"Hey," Naruto said soothingly and gestured to Sakura and Sasuke to stand back and stay alert, "We don't want to fight, just to pass through."

The wolf stared at his outstretched hand in confusion, it snarled and snapped threateningly after Naruto's hand. Naruto pulled his hand back a bit and swallowed loudly.

The wolves fur stood at its ends as they crept closer to them, heads slightly lowered with mouths open in snarls. "Uhhh… Naruto?" Sasuke whispered worried as he leaned away from the wolf closest to him.

"Just a bit more…" Naruto whispered, his eyes transfixed on the wolf. He held out his hand again, the tips of his fingers curving slightly inwards and away from the wolf, "We don't want to fight… we'll leave right away."

The large wolf stopped just before his hand and it's mouth relaxed, hiding it's sharp teeth as it's eyes almost grew dazed. It backed away slowly and then shook its head, as if to come out of its daze. The wolf turned and barked at the other wolves. One of them seemed to object with whatever the alpha decided but quickly backed down after a growl from the white one. The whole pack then retreated, slipping back into the fog.

Sakura's jaw dropped and she stammered with confusion. "Wha- how? WHAT?" she screamed at the end and Naruto hurriedly slapped a hand to her mouth. She ripped it off, "What the hell was that!?" she hissed, lowering her voice.

The snail spoke too, "I'd like to know to know that too. Those wolves are some of the most vicious animals in this forest.

Sasuke gasped in happiness and held the cage up above his head. "He speaks! It's the circle of life!"

"I have no idea what that means," Naruto deadpanned and then grinned, scratching his neck awkwardly. He continued on, going deeper into the forest, "You know how I can feel emotions?" he asked.

Sakura scoffed. "Of course we do," she said and then whispered to Sasuke, "We can't freaking lie to him because of it."

Naruto opened his mouth to tell them more but Sasuke was quick to interject. "Wait! I wanna try and guess!" He tripped slightly over a branch and almost dropped the snail. Sasuke continued on like it hadn't happened and whispered ominously, "You mind controlled those poor wolves with your secret brainwashing farts?"

They stared at him incredulous and Sasuke thinned his mouth and gave them a good look at his 'I am really not amused' face. He threw his hands into the air. "Of course not! I think that maybe you gave or manipulated their emotions? It kinda fits into your whole 'Emotions are my mojo' thing you've got going on."

Naruto stared hard at him for while not quite understanding Sasuke's choice of sounds, he mouthed the word ' _mojo_ ' and wondered what it meant. "I _shared_ my emotions with them." Naruto corrected and he definitely looked giddy at the thought.

"Blonde kid has a bloodline?" The snail asked.

"We think so," Sakura said, "It's pretty obvious he's a real Uzumaki somewhere down in that bag of energy, so either it's a part of that or he has some other bloodline defect."

"I am literally right here." Naruto said.

Sakura broke a branch of a three that stood half into the path. "Yuuka says that we need something to mind control people with too."

"Oooh!" Sasuke grinned, jumping over a root and held a hand out to Naruto, "High five for ' _Controlling people club_!'"

Naruto winced but smacked his hand against Sasuke's. "I don't see how it's a good thing, but okay."

"You kids are a strange bunch," The snail commented and sank back into its shell, "Talk to me when you reach the main tower."

Sasuke blinked at the cage in his hands. "So antisocial." he muttered and looked out to observe the surroundings again.

Naruto flinched, gaining his teammates attention and grinned deviously. "Copy team number 05 found a team."

"Oh oh oh!" Sasuke grinned and followed Naruto when he changed direction, going for the team his clones had sent information about, "Let's go see you two kicking some ass!"

"It's a sand team," Naruto jumped up on a high branch and continued as Sasuke and Sakura followed, "They're around 15 years old so that means they have experience we don't have. But other than that they seem average."

"Hmm…" Sasuke hummed as he crouched down on the branch overviewing the small sunny cleaning the sand genin had decided to camp in. It had begun to get dark before they could find the genin and the sand team had build a small campfire, nothing too big or small just the perfect size for it not to get noticed easily. Too bad the clones had found them before they even made camp.

He switched his Sharingan on, the world around him seemed to slow down. There was one auburn haired boy and two girls, one with straw blonde and another with _lime green hair. What is wrong with natural hair colors in this world!?_ Sasuke ignored his thoughts and said, "I'd say they have between me and Sakura in chakra supply. The guy has the most."

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked and his hands jittered impatiently, he fumbled with them before deciding on stuffing them in the pockets in jacket.

Sakura smiled and unsealed her ambush quiver, slugging it over her other shoulder. She drew an arrow. "On it."

"Thank God for Naruto and Sensei sealing…" Sasuke muttered. Seals, especially storage seals were _very_ expensive which was why only a small part of shinobi actually used them to store unimportant things (like he did) and not the most notable of items.

Their team was in the small group that could store weapons, food, clothes or even toilet paper - if they wanted - in seals because they had someone to make them. Storage seals required a large amount of chakra to work which meant that it could take weeks for someone like Kakashi-sensei to make just one seal.

It took Naruto around two days because he had chakra hacks.

Sakura nocked her arrow, it had a fast working toxin - a very strong sedative - laced with the metal tip. The sedative wouldn't last more than a hour but it only took a few seconds for the effects to begin. It would probably only last a few minutes against sand genin.

She let the arrow loose and nocked another, fired at the second genin, she repeated the process. The three genin only managed to shout in surprise before they fell asleep, thin and easily removable arrows stuck in their arms and legs. (One was stuck in the boy's ass but Sakura's glance was a warning enough for them not to say anything)

Sasuke jumped down to the box in between the sleeping kids, his team following closely behind. "Oh ho!" Sasuke grinned as he picked up the small cage with a green snake inside. It was probably one of Anko's. "Hello to you, you sexy thing."

The snake pulled it's head back with a surprised hiss at his comment and hid its scaly head from him.

"Don't be embarrassed…" Sasuke cooed and jumped back up on a branch, softening his landing to the best of his abilities so the two small summons in his arms wouldn't be thrown around.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura and Naruto who was searching for a potential scroll among the genin. He looked at the snake when a thought hit him. "Hey, can you share box with Mister snail?" he brought up the two cages so they could see each other.

"Che- we're not supposed to share." the snail said as the snake shook its head.

"Ugh," Sasuke groaned, whining, "But you guys better be nice if I have to carry two cages… Jeez, who designed this shit…"

Naruto jumped up besides him and shook his head as he sealed away a brush with leftover ink on the tip. "No scroll." He said and glanced down at the genin, a devious smirk spreading on his lips.

Sasuke looked down as Sakura came up with an amused expression. Naruto had drawn on the genin's faces. The sole boy of the group had gotten some very Naruto-like whiskers and a mustache that was funny in this world, but not for the same reasons as in his old one. The girls had some ugly fake makeup on and on all their foreheads were some unattractive sentences.

They gazed at their handiwork for a don't while before taking off again, beginning the long road for the central tower.

They ended up walking until it was night with the clone groups only finding one team, But that team had a very bloodlusting redhead who immediately ripped the clone looking like Sasuke in half. They did not go after the sand team after that.

By the time they found a cave (with two exits, Iruka had been very adamant about _always_ having at least two exits) to take shelter in, the forest had grown to look almost _alive._ The plant life grew bigger, more colorful and one plant tried to eat Sakura.

Sakura looked at their map when they had set up a small fire. They were cooking a plant over it that Sasuke said would keep animals away because of the smell. "This area isn't on the map."

Sasuke shrugged and muttered, stirring in the purple like goo the plant had already become. "They probably gave us inaccurate maps."

Naruto groaned besides them, an annoyed hand pulling slightly at his spiky hair. "We just don't get a break, do we?" He asked, his shoulders dropping but alert.

Sakura straightened, her hand instantly going for her bow. "Enemies?" she asked as she silently slipped to her feet. Sasuke pinched his face in distaste and slipped towards the other exit.

Naruto stood up, slowly walking over to the entrance. "Maybe." He said with a disgusted face and left their field of vision.

He came back in after a good stretch of silence with a sheepish genin in tow. Kabuto scratched the back of his neck as the team stared at him.

"What are you... doing here?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, his hand going to the seals around his left arm. He'd hate to fight Kabuto, but Chunin exams and his team had priority.

Kabuto edged away from where Sakura had an arrow nocked in his direction, her fierce green eyes daring him to move. "Um- well. I saw the cave and thought I'd take shelter, but when I saw someone was already inside I tried to get away. Which did not work out for me."

"Where's your team?" Sakura demanded harshly.

The pale haired genin swallowed. "We got separated by some large spiders?" he asked nervously, his hands twitched in the air.

Sakura sighed and let her bow down, slipping off the arrow and storing it in her quiver. "Get at least one kilometer away and your ass won't be the one to end up with a serious case of porcupine." She threatened seriously and Sasuke had to stifle a giggle at the image she created.

* * *

It was many hours later that Sasuke had the last shift of the night. Giving him one of the two best spots for optimal REM sleep. He sat by the entrance of the cave, leaning against the wet rock and ran his left hand through the dew covered grass, cleaning his hand from the dust he had collected in the cave. His other hand fiddled with a knife, he cut a few grass leaves and grinned.

It was nice and sharp. _Which isn't really nice._ Sasuke mused.

A flash of light in the threes immediately caught his attention and Sasuke was on his feet a second later. He activated his Sharingan and swept the area, he focused on the location of the dull and pulsing light. The light had come from one of Naruto's detection seals, something with genin level or above chakra resources was closing in on the east side entrance.

Sasuke turned around, throwing the knife in his hand in Naruto's direction. The blade cut the string besides his head and the stick it was holding up smashed down into his face.

Sasuke looked away as Naruto yelped and jerked his head to the side when a senbon connected itself in the rock besides his face. The bell attached to the end reflected a bit of light and Sasuke quickly grabbed the wire used to make sound. Using all his strength, Sasuke yanked at the vire. A female shinobi - the one from sound - was pulled from the trees, landing awkwardly on her stomach. Herr right hand extended, a wire wrapped around her finger.

 _Oh no, shit._ Sasuke thought in a frenzy as he leaped from his position and crouched over the girl, holding one of her hands trapped with a foot. He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and gripped his right wrist, regulating his chakra with the hand. Sasuke reached down for her head with a wince of pain. Her eyes widened at the red chakra covering his arm and she screamed in desperation, her legs moving wildly to get him off.

Sasuke's eyes snapped up as they caught a blur coming for him and abandoned his position to block the fist coming for his face. He was pushed to the ground and rolled to his feet and the one person Sasuke really didn't want to meet stood in front of him.

The sound nin shook his paralyzed and stinging hand, studying it with a raised eyebrow as Sasuke clenched and relaxed his hand. It hurt but nothing was broken.

Sasuke looked up from his throbbing hand, His eyes meeting taunting brown ones. "Well hello." The boy said and vanished from his spot, he blurred into view in Sasuke's face. His hands formed a fist and Sasuke quickly brought his arms up to deflect the attack. Sasuke yelped as he was pushed _,_ or _thrown_ away, he landed painfully, pain flaring up his lower back. The sound genin landed over him, and brought his leg down on Sasuke's with a crunch.

Sasuke screamed.

A hand wrapped around his throat and Sasuke gritted his teeth together as he glared at the genin above him. "Is this really all the great Uchiha clan has to offer?" he asked his tone relaxed and cold.

Sasuke grunted and gathered a good amount of his saliva and inserted chakra into it before spitting it out. Sasuke quickly snapped his teeth and set the liquid on fire. The sound genin released his throat and the small fireball meet the skin of his open palm, sizzling out pitifully.

He raised an eyebrow. "That was truly pathetic," He gloated harshly to Sasuke, showing his teeth in a smirk, "I expected _so much more!_ "

Sasuke grinned despite the crippling pain his leg and briefly flashed his eyes to the side. Sasuke gathered his chakra to his leg and began healing it. "Well, _it's just_ _too bad_ I'm not the one that's up to stuff then." Sasuke snarked with glaring red eyes. Just as he finished talking, the boy was blown away with one hard blast of air to his side. He was thrown through several trees, disappearing from Sasuke's fading vision.

Sasuke made a noise of pain as he rolled over to his stomach and Naruto body flickered over to him, he grinned cheekily at him and winced at his bleeding leg. "You healing that?"

"Haa… very funny." Sasuke hissed and his body shook as his bones began healing. He glanced over to Sakura who had Yuuka out to fight patient fur. (Which was really the only way he could describe him with that large fur coat and bandage look)

The sound genin burst from the trees, bruises and cuts littering his body. Naruto threw a kunai with a seal flapping after it on a string and plunged it into a tree besides the enemy genin. It exploded, the blast expanding out until it completely covered him.

Sasuke hurried healing his leg until he could fight, it wasn't enough to be perfectly healed and he would be forced to re-heal some parts later, but it would do. Quickly standing up on his leg, Sasuke ignored the shooting pain in his leg and grabbed Naruto's jacket, yanking him out of the was as the sound genin landed in his place with a giant axe that looked from something from a fantasy movie.

He ripped the axe from the ground like it weighed like feathers and swiped it at Sasuke.

Sasuke raised a leg, pulled his back to the ground, falling backwards and kicked his other leg up on the axe. Sticking it to his foot with chakra, Sasuke ripped it out of the sound nin's hands as he flung himself to his feet. Naruto made a surprised sound but reacted quickly enough and stepped over the axe. He placed his palm, his fingers bent like claws, on the surprised sound genins chest and activated the seals on his arm. Sasuke grabbed the arm and the seals lit up when he inserted chakra into it. Wisps of flames raised from the ink as the surging energy traveled through several seals, until the area by Naruto's hand _exploded_ with fire.

It took ten seconds.

The flames burnt the trees, scorched the ground black and rose beyond the treetops. The two genin fighting Sakura and Yuuka paused in shock at the flaming monster, only for the girl to revive a Tranquiliser arrow from the unsurprised Sakura.

It took ten seconds of overkill.

Sasuke hissed at the heat as Naruto turned to look at him, his teammates eyes widened in horror and Sasuke yelped when he was harshly yanked by the back of his shirt. His vision spun and Sasuke's was smashed face first into the uneven ground, a small stone painfully digging into his cheek.

The sound boy laughed above him and (how was he still alive after two tries of the most overkill attacks Naruto and he had?) wheezed slightly as Naruto shouted his name, his voice carrying from a good distance away.

Sasuke frowned at the sound, wondering briefly how they had gotten so far away from each other. "Oh, hey-" The sound genin was talking again, he lifted Sasuke's head to they could look each other in the eyes, "I was wondering if you really know how to fight your own battles? I was told you'd be a genius or something, what's the word they use? Ah, _prodigy._ Or are you really just a weak little medi-"

Sasuke grumbled under his breath as he spoke and tagged him with chakra before dispersing his chakra out into 50 of his tenketsu in different points of his body. Hinata had once shown him a technique that was similar but more advanced, so she could teach him a watered down version in return for an Uchiha jutsu.

Sasuke growled his mumbles as not to scream - why did most of his jutsu have to hurt? - as Lighting spread out over his body and the weight lifted from his back with a swift jerk.

Sasuke continued his muttering as he unsealed a good amount of knives and rolled over to throw them at the boy when he appeared. "Fake teleporting bastard," Sasuke grumbled, "Thinks i can't see him, does he? The ass. I'm gonna tear him a new one. Maybe find a spider to put on his face, that should be horrible enough. Maybe the jerk will just lay down and die in a most pitiful way if I tell him he has nice hair? No. Bad Sasuke, don't compliment the enemy." He rolled back up on his feet using his own muttering to concentrate. Sasuke spotted the sound genin and threw his knives at him, the genin dodged and managed to evade most of the blades, leaving Sasuke with two shallow cuts for his effort.

He glared at sasuke and finally disappeared from his spot. Sasuke looked around, and jumped back, away from his opponent when he spotted him, standing directly behind him. He stared at Sasuke for a good moment, the cut on his cheek already begun clotting.

He gave a calculating smirk, "Why don't you show me what. You. Can. Do?" He said the words slowly and glanced sideways to where Sasuke knew Naruto was fighting Fur patient, where Sakura was trying to help Yuuka who laying on the ground with a dazed gaze. The sound nin rushed at Sasuke and pulled out a quick kunai, throwing it at him.

Sasuke dodged to the side and slid the sound nin's fist away from him in a manner that was not unlike those of the Hyuuga clan. He bend under the next fist, dodging all attacks he could, waiting for an opening or if exhausting would take the sound nin first.

They traded blows for a while, until Sasuke was able to get to upper hand, landing sevral kicks and cuts with the knives in his hand. It continued like that up until the moment Sasuke was left standing alone, his foot kicking at air.

"You aren't as weak as I thought, I'd almost call you decent for a genin," He said with mock praise and Sasuke spun around to face the spot where he had forced his axe from him."But you have _nothing_ on _me!_ " He shouted furiously, picking up the axe and swinging it a turn around his hand. He jumped, attacking Sasuke with wide swings.

Sasuke almost groaned at his words as he dodged the painfully obvious axe headed for his shoulder, the guy was a drama queen. But hey, if the guy wanted to talk, then Sasuke would let him. "So what's your name?" Sasuke asked, narrowly escaping a bad case of old fashioned decapitation.

He stopped away from Sasuke and smirked gleefully, saying, "Leonard, remember it. Because I'm going to be your death." Leonard raised the giant axe and with a little hop at the tips of his toes, threw it directly at Sasuke.

Sasuke saw it coming a mile away and stepped to the side, out of the axes path. Leonard smirked, his eyes focused on the point his weapon has headed towards. Sasuke looked back from the corner of his eye.

Sakura was standing behind Sasuke, her gaze turned away from him and his little fight as she pulled Yuuka to her feet.

Sasuke would later say that he managed to calculate the situation in those few seconds, but the truth was that he reacted purely on instinct. One second the axe was spinning wildly towards Sakura, the next it was stationed deeply inside Sasuke's shoulder, sprouting blood.

Sasuke do didn't even scream before he lost consciousness.

* * *

 _Next chapter: The forest: Man eating snakes._

* * *

 _Side story that never really happened but I wanted to write:_

Sasuke's back straightened almost mechanically as he sat up and looked around.

"This usually doesn't happen." He commented to the dirty wall in front of was sitting besides a dumpster in some abandoned alleyway in what he recognised as South Konoha.

Sasuke blinked and looked down at himself. Carefully peeling his jacket to the side with a bit of fear, Sasuke looked at his perfectly healed shoulder. Gently touching his shoulder, Sasuke frowned when he didn't feel _anything._

"I would think that waking up in a strange place without a hint of the injury that just happened, isn't the weirdest thing to happen to me. But at least I'm somewhere familiar." He reasoned with himself and dusted off his pants, standing up.

He ended up wandering for quite a while, nothing was different from his home. Four heads on a mountain, the same creepy stares, same buildings, the same genin, same brightly orange Naruto with the team, same dirty streets, same trees and- Sasuke stopped to stare back at Naruto and carefully counted.

One; Naruto, two; Sakura, three; Kakashi-sensei, four; not Yuuka. The fourth member of the team had a very familiar haircut and horrible clothes. Sasuke gently reached up and ran a hand down his duck butt hair.

"This is so stupid." Sasuke growled and pushed his way through the crowd to where his team and Sasuke 1.3? 1.1? Sat with them at a barbeque restaurant.

He slid into the empty seat besides Naruto and ignored the sharp and dangerous looks he got. Sasuke held his hands up in surrender. "Before we get to the gut Sasuke part, I'd like to say that one, I'm probably from another world or three; I'm not a spy. Though that is what a spy would say and yes I do realise I accidentally said three."

The other Sasuke looked ready to jump over the table and put a knife in his head. "Who are you." He demanded, there was no question in his words.

Kakashi-sensei put a hand on The other Sasuke's -or was it the real one?- shoulder, Saving Sasuke from getting his face ruined. "Why don't we take you to the Hokage." Kakashi suggested as if he was asking, with a raised eyebrow.

"Take me to your leader?" Sasuke asked, holding out his hands, because someone had to actually make a real question. He smiled wryly as Kakashi bound his hands in ninja wire and noticed to lack of seals under his sleeve. _Curious_.

They left payment at the table and immediately pushed Sasuke away. "I know the way, you know?" he commented at the leading hand on his shoulder and looked up into Kakashi-sensei's cold calculating eyes, deflating.

Kakashi was different, not all that different, maybe less open. But the team dynamics were definitely different. Sasuke 1.1 was quiet, his eyes never losing the somehow permanent glare. Sakura was looking between the two of them, a subtle blush on her cheeks, her expression horrifying familiar. Naruto was the most normal, maybe it was because he reminded Sasuke of his younger self, a more naive and loud version of his.

"Are you really from another world?" Naruto asked excitedly and Sasuke grinned.

"Just like Ken the traveler." Sasuke said, referring to an old manga he had read with Naruto a few years back.

"Ken who?" Naruto furrowed his brows slightly, his head tilting.

"It's-" Sasuke breathed out. "I guess this version of you never read that manga. But yes, I am from another world. Which reminds me, what's the date?"

"September 7th." Kakashi answered shortly and gave Naruto the 'be quiet or doom will befall you' look.

"Ah- that means that Hina's team already had the mission to wave right?" Sasuke asked with a small smile at the reminder of his demon in crime, he'd love to see their version of her. Then he winced, Sasuke wasn't _him_ here so Hinata might not be _his_ Hina.

"What are you talking about bastard? We got that mission, this 'Hina' person didn't." Naruto said completely missing Kakashi's look.

"Hinata Hyuga," Sasuke muttered, shooting a look at the other Sasuke as he couldn't help but bitterly add, "Guess things are very different here if broody and whitering over there is anything to go by."

The teams reactions where all different, Naruto seemed elated at his comment, Sakura looked ready to hit him, Sasuke's look withered even more and Kakashi became annoyed. "That's enough talk for now," Kakashi-sensei looked out over all of them and focused on him. "All of you."

The arrived at the Hokage's door and was shown inside without having to wait. _That's only happened twice._ Sasuke thought with a pang of satisfaction, he'd been at the Hokage office so many times so it was nice to see his presence preceded everything else.

The hokage looked the same as he sat with his pipe in one hand, back straightened from years of training and the same curious but guarded gaze. He took a puff of his pipe after Kakashi was done explaining the situation to him and turned to Sasuke. "Do you have any proof of who you are?"

Sasuke nodded, he'd expected that. "I can show you my shinobi legalisation and some information Danzo Shimura told me some time ago."

The Hokage nodded with suspicion in his eyes when Sasuke said who he had received information from. He probably realised what Sasuke knew. Sasuke pushed his sleeve up to show the seals wrapped around his left arm. "Can I?" he asked as Kakashi made a noise in the back of his throat.

"What's that?" Naruto asked and Sasuke winced inside, wanting to reply with; 'something cool you and Kakashi made' but held it in.

The hokage nodded but glanced at Kakashi, probably recognising Kakashi's sealing.

Sasuke unsealed his ligamentation and handed it over to the Hokage, going quiet as he read through it. It was probably different from this world's Sasuke's but it did have the Hokage seal and chakra.

"It would- it would seem that you are telling the truth," he said and held out the paper for Sasuke to take. "Now, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto. Please leave, we have matters to discuss."

"What!? Why-" Naruto whined loudly and was smacked by Sakura.

"Shut up Naruto! Don't talk back to the Hokage!" Naruto made are pitiful sound at the back of his throat and followed Sakura out.

"I'm guessing they are different where you are from?" The Hokage asked, bringing Sasuke out of his obvious staring.

"Yeah. You can say that." Sasuke muttered.

"What can you tell us then?" He asked, getting right back to business. "Everything matches and the fact you have a mix of Kakashi's and another's sealing on your arm only solidifies your claim. But those can be replicated with enough skill, so for you to have at least some freedom during your stay here, I need more."

Sasuke shrugged. "Itachi was ordered to assassinate my family." he said bluntly.

Kakashi choked besides him and the Hokage relaxed his posture. "You do not seem upset by the fact." he pointed out.

Sasuke shook his head. "I lost my memories at 8, or was it nine. Anyway, I know now that you decided it would be better to keep it that way. So I can't really cry rivers for traitors i don't know."

Hiruzen accepted his explanation with a nod. "We will still need to keep an eye on you, your registration said you are a genin and medical nin?" Sasuke nodded in confirmation. "You will be placed in team 7 for the time being, Kakashi will watch over you until we find a way to send you back."

Sasuke accepted to terms and looked at the alternative version of his sensei. There was something unreadable in his eye as he accepted. On their way out the Hokage held them back for a second. "Kakashi, ask for file C-ultra-65-SS. It will tell you what you need to know."

"Yes sir." Kakashi said and closed the door behind them.

"Hey! Hey! Are you staying Dattebayo!?" Naruto shouted apparently really excited at the thought.

Sasuke smiled. "Yeah, for now at least." he was about to say something more when the other Sasuke stalked over to him and gripped the front of his shirt in white knuckles.

"Fight me." He demanded, his eyes blazing into red Sharingans.

Kakashi tugged Sasuke away from him. "Sasuke," He said steadily and waved for them to begin leaving. "Please refrain from assaulting Sasuke. That said, we need to find something to call you, we can't call you both Sasuke or things will turn confusing fast."

Naruto grinned, raising his hand excitedly. "We can call him 'Not ass hole Sasuke!'" Other Sasuke growled at the comment and crossed his arms, glaring silently. "Besides," He continued. "Not asshole Sasuke is way cooler than you so he must be stronger!"

Sasuke gaped like a fish at the reasoning. "That makes no sense Naruto, you could at least say I have more cool battle scars or something."

Naruto grinned widely at his comment and Sasuke heard Sakura mutter something about there being two of them and _deaths?_

Other Sasuke sneered. "How the hell are you me?"

"Well I'm clearly not you," Sasuke mocked. "I'm cuter for one and less rude it would seem. Call me Sazu." the newly named Sazu said with a grin.

"Well then- Sazu," Kakashi-sensei said, cutting of both Naruto and Sasuke before they could say anything. "We planned on going to training ground 7 before you showed up, so you will join us.

"Sure," Sazu agreed. "I can patch you up if there's any injuries in you guys training."

Kakashi smiled what looked like a sweet curve of his eye, but was really a sadistic curve. "Sazu, I was under the impression you'd join us." he said to the only genin who apparently recognised the look.

"Yes sir?" Sasuke whispered meekly with a shudder. Last time he saw that eye and heard that tone he could feel the leeches for _weeks._ The alternative team looked at him curiously, not understanding his plight.

They must either never had surprised Kakashi or Kakashi was just nicer to them. If Sasuke had found any pattern in his sensei it was that he got devious when they managed to surprise him.

Telling him about Itachi was probably a surprise.

"Let's go then!" Kakashi smiled like Sazu wasn't going to suffer.

"This isn't too bad." Sazu commented as he sat sideways on a tree and watched Naruto and Sasuke struggle with sticking and Sakura slowly running out of gas. He wondered if Yuuka was still inside her.

"You seem good at this." Kakashi-sensei commented as he stood besides him and watched Sasuke send a death glare at Sazu.

"Medic." Sazu deadpanned as if that explained everything, which it actually did.

"Hmm," Kakashi-sensei hummed. "I'm having you spar with Sasuke anyway, maybe he can learn something from his more cheerful self."

"Why are you showing Sasuke that much favouritism?" Sazu asked instead of acknowledging that he heard him. It was pretty noticeable after just an hour that Sasuke was getting just a bit more attention.

"Politics." Kakashi said like it explained everything, which it did.

"Ah," Sazu said. "Sure I'll fight the guy, he certainly seemed eager to stick those claws in me. Me-ow~"

Sazu frowned when Sakura gave up after only getting a bit winded. "Hey Sakura!" He called out, she looked up at him in confusion. "You should continue! Make yourself some more chakra! Then you'll get less sweaty in all situations! Like dates!"

She looked at the sweat on her arm, then looked at him, then Sasuke and then her arm again. Sakura's face morphed into a look of determination as she stood up and continued on.

"Nice." Kakashi commented.

Sazu looked at him dully. "You're not even trying."

"No." Kakashi said with a sniff of glee.

Sazu shrugged. "Maybe they'll get it when they miss the chunin exams."

"You weren't entered?" Kakashi-sensei asked with curiosity. "Because I predicted that entering them will push them further into a team. Get them disillusioned."

Sazu cracked his fingers and jumped up on a thick branch, laying down on his stomach. He looked down at Kakashi. "We did enter. Where did you think I got that axe in my face?"

"Shoulder." Kakashi corrected easily without looking up from his book.

Sazu grinned, that was so like the Kakashi-sensei he knew. "Face." he denied and Kakashi sighed, hanging his head.

Sazu awoke to shouting and opened an eye tiredly. Sasuke and Naruto was in a very loud argument, well it was mostly Naruto shouting. He yawned and blinked away his sleep, popping up on his elbows to better see.

Kakashi was sitting on one of the three poles, completely ignoring the commotion. Sakura was glancing worriedly between the two boys, sometimes saying something as the two boys almost touched for heads. They were furious.

Sazu groaned and Kakashi-sensei looked between him and the two with a raised eyebrow. Sazu narrowed his eyes and pointed at the Jounin before pointing at the genin.

Kakashi did the same lazily, expecting Sazu to break up the argument.

" _I seriously don't get paid enough_ ," Sazu muttered in English and jumped down between the two, gapping the back of their collars. After pausing for a second as they realised he was there, Sazu took them and smashed their foreheads together. He held them there, using their surprise to his advantage. "Stop this childish tantrum, I don't care what you're arguing about but Kakashi-sensei wants _me_ to break it up for some reason. So _stop_ or I'll paralyze you _both and position you so you'll be kissing for hours_."

Naruto squeaked and ripped himself from Sazu's grip, Sasuke following closely behind. Sazu raised an eyebrow at Sasuke when he turned away from them, frustration pulsing off his bones. "Okay, now that we're not trying to eat each other's heads I'd like to announce that I might have found a way for me to go back home."

"That's good," Kakashi-sensei said as he finally joined them. After he calmed the genin down of course, damn him. "But first Sasuke wanted a spar."

Sasuke's eyes gained an excited gleam and his hands clenched and unclenched. Sazu groaned loudly, looking away from him and hung his head. "Ugh. Fine…"

"I want to fight Sazu to!" Naruto shouted with jealousy. "Why does Sasuke get all the cool fights?"

Sazu grinned and cupped his face. "Because he has my pretty face and is hoping some of my awesomeness will rub off on him." Sakura made a face at his declaration and peered between him and Sasuke.

Naruto made a disgusted sound and turned to Kakashi-sensei. "I don't want to fight him." he stated flatly.

Sazu grinned.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

I rewrote this chapter which why it's a month late (and it's cut in half) but on the other hand, _Fracturing_ is now a year old! Maybe I can get to chapter 40 on my next birthday.

That said, I've put a link on my profile for the designs of team 7, Jeraru and the cloud team.

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!


	21. Chapter 21: The forest: Man eating snake

_I don't own Naruto? Of course I don't!_

* * *

 **Chapter 21: The forest: Man eating snakes**

* * *

When Sasuke fell, an axe sticking out his shoulder, Naruto _screamed._ Red blocked his vision for a few seconds before everything became so _clear_ , he could see the bug crawling near his knees.

When did he fall to his knees?

The one eyed sound genin took a step away from him. The air _moved_ and pushed out from his body, the furred genin yelped as the air threw him away.

Naruto turned, barring his teeth and jumping over to the genin before Sasuke.

Brown eyes widened and Naruto tensed his muscles throwing his claws out to gut the genin. The _boy_ disappeared and Naruto ignored him, turning and scooping up Sasuke.

Jumping over to the mouth of the cave, Naruto's vision lost its unnatural focus as he set Sasuke down against the cave wall, staring at his peaceful expression.

Naruto glanced down at Sasuke, whispering his name and the black haired teen opened his eyes tiredly, rolling his head around, watching Naruto in a daze.

Naruto carefully patted Sasuke's cheek. " _heal yourself, don't die, I can't lose you."_ was what Naruto wanted to say but, "Get it together you ass hole." was the only sentence he could get past his lips.

He waited for an 'I love you too,' but no sarcastic remark came from Sasuke as Naruto looked him over.

The axe was still in Sasuke, but Naruto didn't dare pull it out. He wasn't good enough for something of that magnitude. Turning to call for Sakura, Naruto felt his body freeze as the sound genin appeared on the other side of Sasuke. He poked Sasuke's cheek as his eyes closed again. "I'd guess he's going to be like that for a while."

Naruto tensed, swallowing slowly as the teleporting boy's brown eyes turned to him, amusement practically flowing of his body in waves. "What do you want?" Naruto asked.

He raised an eyebrow at Naruto's bluntness and grinned, his fingers dancing over the axes handle. Naruto tensed. "Are you afraid?"

"Why should I be?" Naruto snapped anxiously and stared straight at the genin, not daring to take his eyes of him, even for a second. He could see red move around in the corner of his eye, but focusing on it would give the sound nin an opening.

The sound nin's eyes flashed darkly and a low chuckle rung out his lips. "I can feel your fear, it's pouring of you like sweat."

Naruto grit his teeth and glared, the seals on his arm lighting up. He had burnt out his strongest offensive seal with that one fire jutsu he did with Sasuke, but Naruto wasn't a one trick pony. His ability to makes seals might be limited to being an advanced beginner, but Kakashi-sensei was an expert, not quite a master. But good enough to mix Naruto's chakra and skill with his own to create something workable.

"Well anyway!" The sound nin looked back at Sasuke, oddly attentive as he straightened and patted Sasuke on his cheek, he snorted, "Orochimaru asked us to test the weakling and honestly I was kinda disappointed even before we fought. So really I did you a favour in the long run."

 _Orochimaru,_ Naruto recognized that name, and who wouldn't? The snake sannin who betrayed the village. His mind whirled, why would Orochimaru be interested in Sasuke? Wouldn't someone be more interested in the ninetails? Maybe he was after the Sharingan. But then why send people to fight them?

"Well then, _Naruto_ ," The way he said Naruto's name made a shiver run down his back. He then reached over and patted Naruto's cheek, Naruto fault but couldn't keep his revulsion off this face. He leaned towards him, I won't kill him right now, just for you."

He stood up - Naruto followed behind - and stretched slowly. "I'm Leonard, and I get the feeling that we're going to be great friends in the future!" he paused thoughtfully and looked down at Sasuke and help tightly to the axes handle, "Once I've killed your pathetic boyfriend of course."

Leonard vanished and Naruto fell down on his ass in shock, his head spinning. Sakura's yelp of surprise snapped Naruto out of his trance. He looked up and the female sound genin was gone.

Naruto felt his frantically beating heart, winding him and he looked at Sasuke. Naruto paled when he didn't see the axe, only blood, so much blood. "Sa- Sakura!"

"Sasuke." Sakura breathed, her face draining of color as she looked at the gaping wound and blood beginning to form a pool at their feet.

Sasuke gasped for air, a shudder ran throughout his body and a sharp pain made him freeze, the memories of himself doing the stupidest thing he'd ever done. He'd jumped in the path of a freaking axe.

* * *

 _Pain._ Pain. _Painpainpain._

Rukia would kill him once he was done with the exams.

He glanced down at his body, and furrowed his eyebrows and gave a pained moan. The bandages was carefully, but awfully wrapped around his shoulder and upper chest. He focused his chakra through the pain and ran a diagnostic jutsu through his shoulder.

It was going to scar.

Sasuke twitched at the thought.

 _PAIN._

Sasuke gasped and closed his eyes with a shaky breath.

He had just begun trying to heal his shoulder when his vision blackened and Sasuke let unconsciousness take him.

* * *

Naruto stared at Sasuke with a pained expression, his lips drawn into a tight line. "Sasuke." He muttered.

Naruto shouldn't have hesitated, he should have been there with Sasuke. He should have blasted away the sound genin immediately, he could have been there besides Sasuke. They wouldn't have lost their food. They wouldn't have had to separate. They could have gotten the last animal and a scroll.

The groan from his side had Naruto look up into Sasuke's dark eyes, clouded in pain. "Hey Naruto." he rasped.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, and smiled apologetic when Sasuke winced at the volume, "You're okay. Well mostly okay, alive. As in not dead because you got an axe to the side. You could have been cut in two. I mean- I'll just shut up now."

Sasuke snorted and yelped at the spark of pain the action gave him. "How about I begin healing this mess?" He spoke softly, slowly and with evident pain.

Naruto nodded eagerly as Sasuke shut his eyes to concentrate, his jaw clenched. "Yes, is there something I can do?"

"Sakura? Yuuka?" Sasuke whispered and his undamaged shoulder twitched.

Naruto's features softened. "They're out to find food, we didn't know when you'd wake up and we've already eaten everything we had with ourselves."

Sasuke frowned. "It's been six days?"

Naruto mumbled his reply under his breath.

"I don't have super hearing." Sasuke said slowly and tilted his head to the side, looking at Naruto.

Naruto blinked and clenched the fabric of his pants. "It's been one and a half day, another genin team stole our food," Sasuke raised an eyebrow in question, no doubt thinking something along the lines of, _how the hell did the two bad ass members of our team lose food?_ Naruto could almost hear his voice in his head, telling him all sorts of things about it. "They held you hostage. It was Lee's team, or more accurately, it was Neji. They already had a snake and snail message so they let us keep them. But it was close, Neji wanted to take the animals. I don't know why the two of you hate each other that much, but if it wasn't for Lee or Tenten, we'd have lost more than food."

Sasuke was silent after he finished, staring at him with slightly wide eyes. "We have to thank them then." he eventually said and his face went slack, fading into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Well?" Sakura looked at the clone disguised as Sasuke and gestured him to speak up. "What did he say?" The team of clones with her had said that Clone team 17 had found a genin team with a frog, just the animal they needed.

Fake Sasuke nodded with a big smile. "Yeah Sakura-chan! The original agrees that you can take this team alone too! I got the directions, so just follow me!"

Sakura swallowed as she watched the clones red jacket. "How's Sasuke?"

The Naruto clone looked back at her - the one that had looked like her had transformed into a kunai. "He's getting better, he faints less, stays awake longer, He said that he's almost done healing himself." The clone hurried to look away again.

"That's good." Sakura commented softly, she knew what the clone was feeling. She was sure it was mutual between all three remaining members of their team.

 _ **Yeah…**_ Yuuka agreed, her voice somber. Sasuke using so long on healing an injury was new, Sasuke having to heal himself wasn't new - he healed bruises and cuts on himself regularly - Sasuke being so viciously injured was new and horrifying.

The clones both stopped simultaneously and the Naruto one looked back at her. "We're here." The clone announced.

Yuuka grumbled. _**After this, we're going right back. I don't want another hour in this blood soaked forest. Not that I usually dislike death and blood, but this air is doing wonders to my hair.**_

Sakura agreed on most points, except the liking blood and death parts. Tigers, man eating plants, poisonous snakes and air that ruined her hair. It was standing on ends, she looked like someone had given her a good nice electric shock.

Sakura turned her attention to the genin team under her. They were fairly normal looking genin from rain, there was two male and one female. They were maybe 17 or older, the biggest boy had a thick and long katana strapped on his back, the other boy had the cage, with the small frog jumping around and the girl had medical pouches hanging from her hips.

 _ **Typical for the female to be the medic.**_ Yuuka sneered inside her and nudged her mind to be released.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the rude gesture Yuuka mentally made and focused on letting her out.

Yuuka smiled widely as she stepped up to watch the genin. She held up some kunai with orange handles, Naruto kunai and Sakura's eyes widened as she patted herself down.

"How did you?" She asked in honest amazement, she didn't know Yuuka could steal so well and so much at once.

Yuuka smirked easily, her eyes glinted with mischief. "I take the kenjutsu one and you take the rest?"

Sakura readied her bow with an arrow marked with the kanji for cage on the side, her eyes trained directly at a single spot. She nodded and Yuuka substituted with a broken branch, hidden behind trees and a bit in front to the group. Sakura let her arrow lose and Yuuka jumped with chakra bursting in her legs.

The arrow priced the girls sandal. She paused when her foot wouldn't move and looked down. The scream that followed when the pain finally registered was loud as it was filled with terror. Arrows followed, silver blurs in the air as she was surrounded by seven identical arrows. The arrows were activated in in a burst of chakra and a silver film of chakra filled out to make a barrier.

In the time it took for the barrier to activate,Yuuka had jumped with a clenched fist aimed right at the sword genins shoulder. He dodged to the side and sliced his blade towards her. She bend under the blade and rushed through hand seals, ending on the tiger seal as she sucked in air.

She snapped up straight when the sword was turned away from her and blew out a fire ball in the genin's face with a decent amount of satisfaction.

He screamed like she had predicted a burning genin would, and a smell she recognised as burning skin and hair reached her nose. Yuuka breathed in through her nose and exhaled out her mouth as she watched her work take effect as the genin fell to his knees.

She grinned and looked over the flames to watch the other genin on Sakura's hit list. _**How's it going?**_ She mocked as the genin dodged yet another arrow.

 _Well, it's going quite brilliantly. Thank you for your input Yuuka,_ Sakura growled with frustration as yet another arrow was evaded. _I just don't get why the ass hole is staying. The logical thing would be to attack me upfront unless he's trying to make me waste ally arrows._

 _ **But that's impossible to do, can I help?**_ Yuuka asked as she watched the impressive footwork of the genin as he danced around Sakura's arrows, somehow evading the barriers Sakura had set up to activate when he was in position. She wanted to fight a person like that.

The genins sharp eyes looked at her for a second, then looked at the loud flames in front of her before dancing around yet another arrow.

He smirked.

 _Like I'm letting you burn another person._ Sakura said tensly.

Yuuka grinned a bit at the refusal and looked up to Sakura's face. Her body language showed clear annoyance. _**Thanks for the approval mom.**_

Yuuka felt a bit of satisfaction as Sakura's grip on her bow tightened just a bit. But because she was looking up, she never saw the blade coming from under her. The screaming coming from the flames that had fallen silent.

Yuuka snapped her eyes down at the sound of a blade slicing through air and jumped away with a burst of chakra.

But the somehow not burned genin had anticipated that and with a wide stance, he swiped his blade at her wrist. Yuuka grimaced as her mind reminded her that she had no way to dodge. Dying was pitiful, it showed her that she was not good enough. But she resigned herself to it anyway.

A kunai drove against the blade, forcing it out of the way. The kunai exploded in chakra and the clone jumped on Yuuka's fist to propel his momentum as he smashed his fist into the boy's cheek. The genin flew back into the dirt with a loud shout of surprise. The clone dispelled with a shout of triumph.

 _ **What the hell!?**_ Yuuka screamed over her and Sakura's mental link.

"What the hell was that!?" The boy snarled and pointed his sword at her. His hand was steady, but his eyes snapped towards Sakura for as second.

 _You were broadcasting pretty strongly._ Sakura thought dryly and lazily aimed an arrow at the male genin she was to take care of. He was already (finally) stuck by a tree, his hand pierced by an arrow right in the palm.

She fired the arrow and hit him besides his head. The genin's eyes widened as electricity spread out and finally shock him into unconsciousness.

Sakura made a pleased sound, putting her bow down and looked over at Yuuka. The satisfaction on her face bleed away like a fetal wound.

The last genin was on the ground, his legs had several precise cuts ment to disable and his right arm bent and broken in several places as he wept. He tried desperately to crawl away from Yuuka as she aimed a fist at his head. Her clothes were torn open in the front, showing off more skin than Sakura ever wanted to.

"Fuck." She cursed and jumped down besides Yuuka, ignoring the fact that she didn't even seem to notice her. Sakura quickly wrapped her hand on Yuuka's wrist and yanked her away from herself and the genin.

Yuuka yelped as her fist connected to the ground and cracks spread from the point of impact. The ground lifted from the shock and earth flew in all directions as the ground created a big crater.

Sakura didn't spend time looking at the impressive display of power. "What the hell Yuuka!?" She shouted at her counterpart and shoved Yuuka back when she was ignored in turn for approaching the genin again.

Yuuka growled angrily and slightly lifted the sword she had taken. "Why did you stop me?" she hissed and tried to push her way past Sakura again. Yuuka was pushed back with a strong arm. "Let me go."

Sakura lifted her upper lip. "We don't kill and that attack was enough to blast his head open," she said after a beat and stepped in Yuuka's path. Sakura took the sword from Yuuka and threw into the side, "We have a promise, no killing unless necessary." She held out her hand with a tensed jaw.

Yuuka narrowed her eyes and sneered at Sakura but complied, grasping Sakura's hand in her own. She exploded with chakra and as the smoke surged in towards Sakura as she disappeared.

Sakura turned to the sacred genin "I'm sorry," She whispered with sorrow and swung her bow over a shoulder. She set out and picked up the scattered arrows, putting them back into her quiver. She jumped back up to the waiting clones and snapped her fingers.

The arrows around the medic genin, or had it been the boy Yuuka had fought who had been the real medic? Exploded. It would have been a logical ruse, they would divert the attention from the real medic to the girl. Sakura felt happy that she had captured her first, the girl could have been the strongest among them.

Sakura whispered a quiet, "Sorry." and jumped away from the area.

"What about the toad?" One of the clones, the Naruto one asked her in confusion. "Why did you leave it?"

"I couldn't."

"Couldn't what?" The Sasuke clone asked.

Sakura frowned and nudged against Yuuka in the back of her mind. "I couldn't take it!" She snapped at him and he recoiled at the emotion in her voice. "I don't _know_ why she did that- I don't _understand_ it either." Sakura continued and clenched her teeth and fists in frustration. Her nails bit into skin, drawing blood.

 _You didn't get that from me._ She growled at Yuuka.

"We need to change the rules," The clone said the words slowly. "So something like this never happens again, Yuuka has already killed, but you don't need more death on your hands. We know how Sasuke was, despite his obvious attempt at hiding how he felt."

Sakura nodded, her words failing her as they continued towards Sasuke and Naruto. There was nothing to say.

"Sakura, stop." Naruto clone 57 stopped besides her, skin turning pale despite the fact that he was made of pure chakra. His eyes flashed around, processing the information he must have received

"What is it?"

Naruto's eyes blew wide and he hurried to grab her hand. He pulled her along as he jumped branch and drag her to faster speeds. "We need to hurry!" he said without answering her question.

"What why!?"

Naruto grit his teeth. "Someone had begun picking off our scouts so O-team decided to move away from the attacking. But all the slaughter lead them in one direction, the center of a genjutsu."

"They didn't go in." Sakura predicted easily and Yuuka finally gave her a worried push in her mind.

"They didn't," Naruto confirmed and flinched when more memories came to him, "But by not springing the trap, it seems we did exactly what he wanted."

"He?"

He nodded. "He," Naruto growled and s D straight at her, "It's Orochimaru."

Sakura froze. "Of the sannin!?" she squeaked.

"Yes."

* * *

The ground trembled and the trees around her whined and cracked. Some of them gave in to the shaking and ripped their roots from the ground, falling down. A trunk slammed into the spot besides her and Sakura hissed at the Naruto clone. "How long?"

Naruto 57 winced and scratched his head in frustration. "Too long, I haven't gotten an update in a long time."

Sakura frowned. "Don't you get memories every time a clone dies?" It was impossible that if Naruto was in a battle that he did _not_ use a single clone. It wasn't just impossible. The world would explode if Naruto didn't throw his massive chakra supply in every opponent's face right off the bat.

The idiot.

The lovable idiot though.

But an idiot is still an idiot despite personal feelings.

"No," He said as they continued on, almost falling a few times as the earth shook underneath their feet, "I have to consciously focus to scatter the memories and if they died too quickly there's no memories for me to get."

Sakura swallowed uneasily. Dying too quickly would mean that Orochimaru could already had killed them all, before they could even have blinked. She rubbed the headband on her left arm and clenched her eyelids shut. Sakura shook her head and stared ahead. Her team needed her.

The ground was shaking, that meant there was at least a little chance her team was still alive, and clone team 57 was still there to annoy her.

 _ **Orochimaru must have an angle if he's kept them alive this long.**_ Yuuka agreed with her thoughts before they could completely form.

 _I agree, there's really no other way. The sannin are all S class and the strongest person we've ever fought was Kakashi-sensei and he's A_ _class_.

Yuuka snorted. _**Which is so below S that it's like comparing an ant to a boot.**_

She looked at Naruto's worried face and decided silently that the madman wanted them for _something_. God she hoped he wasn't trying to kill them- her train of thought broke off as something giant appeared in front of her with a loud bang. It's decent broke off branches and smothered several smaller plants.

Sakura screeched in surprise and stumbled back, tripping over a root. She grabbed the Naruto clones sleeve to steady herself, but the clone was just as startled. So he was pulled down with her as she fell back on her butt, momentarily stunned as she took in what had fallen down at her feet.

A single and giant brown snake hissed as its tongue tasted the air. It had a red swirling pattern along its long back and a paler brown on its stomach.

Sakura sighed as her heart began calming down. Anko must have gotten their message and send help for them. Anko was the only snake summoner in konoha and while she might be a scary bitch (Naruto's words not hers) she was their comrade.

 _ **No she's not.**_ Yuuka whispered hastily in her mind and Sakura's stomach dropped, her heart speeding up again.

The snake turned its head with a jerk and snapped its jaws at her in a flash, it's mouth smelled like something rotten and death. Sakura only just managed to escape the gaping mouth as the Naruto clone hadn't even considered Anko's summons and managed to push her away. It caught the clone in its mouth and squeezed, Sakura saw his arm spasm before a horrible 'pop' sound signaled his demise.

 _ **Orochimaru,**_ Yuuka growled, angry that someone had gotten so _close_ to actually killing them, _**Let me out.**_

Sakura easily agreed with Yuuka's plea to fight the snake with her. Getting Yuuka out of her body while in fight was, however something she did not agree with.

Sakura jumped back away from the danger as Yuuka took control for a second and brought her out of harm's way. _**We need a plan.**_ Yuuka whispered on the inside despite the fact that she didn't need to.

 _Genjutsu,_ Sakura hissed and took back control in the short moment some sound had distracted the snake long enough for her to do the required hand seals. She felt the genjutsu take hold for just a second before it gave out pitifully. _Of Course_ _genjutsu doesn't work on summons._ She seethed.

The snake hissed angrily and rushed at her, throwing plants to the sides in its fury. Yuuka narrowed Sakura's eyes and reared her fist back before smashing it into the snake's snout. Her chakra sharpened into an explosive force at the point of impact and burst out as her fist connected with the snake. Air was forced away from the impact and Sakura was blown away a good few meters.

Yuuka flipped her bow from her shoulder and pushed Sakura back into control with a hasty shove. (Yuuka never really learned how to use the bow again after she permanently lost her eye) Sakura almost dropped the bow in surprise at suddenly being back in control but managed to hold on tight despite the sweat beginning to make her hands slippy and stared at the arrow Yuuka had picked in surprise. Sakura readied one of the last special arrows she had, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto were going to kill her.

Sakura pulled most of the chakra she had available into the seal and fired at the giant golden eye turned towards her in a reptilian form of a glare. The arrow struck in the soft eye and imploded in fire.

The snake screeched in pain and Sakura hissed at the emptiness in her chakra supply. She didn't wait to watch the dragon of fire that would be blazing to life, expanding out from the seal and turned to flee the scene. Sakura didn't need to watch to know the effect her arrow would have. It was Sakura's strongest arrow, she only had one and the prototype almost burned down a large section of Sasuke's training ground. It was their last resort because of the amount of chakra it needed.

She really hoped Yuuka knew what she was doing.

The two monsters fought, fire against flesh and as Sakura retreated, the snake had begun winning. Before long, the roar of fire died out.

 _Why didn't Naruto 57 notice it?_ Sakura wondered as her shaking legs almost fell over a root sticking from the ground.

 _ **This isn't the time to wonder about the subtle technicalities of the shadow clone jutsu.**_ Yuuka deadpanned.

 _Right._ Sakura agreed and pulled herself over a fallen tree, almost slipping because of her sweaty hands. _We should just get out of here._

 _ **Do you have their path?**_ Yuuka asked and Sakura bristled angrily.

 _Noooooo,_ She broke a low hanging branch grumpily, _because_ someone _had me use all my chakra to use the fire dragon, which was absolutely_ useless.

 _ **Then let me out.**_

 _Okay but don't go crazy on me._ Sakura instructed and began concentrating.

Yuuka snorted. _**Of course I won't, this is about our**_ **life** _ **. It isn't like I'd have a reason to kill it.**_

The Snake crashed into their path, turning its scaly head with a furious hiss. Sakura squeaked in surprise, her heart jumping up into her throat and fumbled with Yuuka's consciousness, losing her concentration.

The snake jumped at them with its mouth blown wide and Sakura pushed chakra into her burning legs to jump away. Her legs could only just carry her from life threatening danger but not far enough to that she could escape when the snake slammed its tail down besides her. She fell over and the snake hissed in delight before flicking her away with a swing of its tail, without any real intention of killing her.

The sake toying with them.

 _ **Do the other way!**_ Yuuka hissed, _**I don't care if Orochimaru needs us alive for whatever he wants. But that snake is**_ **dead** _ **.**_

 _Damit!_ Sakura snapped internally and pulled out a kunai, putting it into reverse grip. She bit her teeth and as the snake attacked again, it's movement impaired by the trees and cut along her bow arm. The cut, she made so quickly, to make sure she wouldn't falter in the middle of cutting, went from her wrist and all the way up her forearm. The pain hit her like a sword to the gut.

The blood from her arm splashed out on the forest floor and surged in on one spot, it was still for a few seconds before it morphed, chakra exploding out in a cloud. Yuuka appeared from the cloud and launched out with hands flashing out for the snake.

But the snake had stopped and it's tail lashed out, wrapping around Yuuka's middle while she was in mid air. "You ssshink I will fall for ssshat again?" It hissed at her, slitted eyes narrowing dangerously.

Sakura froze. "Yuuka!" the pain in her arm was forgotten.

Yuuka wiggled, trying to force her way out and Sakura rapidly fired an arrow at the reptile. It smashed into the scales, the wood breaking and exploded as the seal was ignited on impact. She waited a second, but it had no effect.

Yuuka hissed as the snake squeezed her body tightly, not stopping. Not even when an arrow exploded closely to the snake's head. Yuuka almost smiled at the dejavu, she was going 'die' but this time there was no Sakura to save her. _**Thank kami summons usually don't use chakra,**_ Yuuka closed her eyes, ready for the future attack, _**Summon Choco once you get my chakra, and go!**_

Sakura gave Yuuka a longing glance before turning to running away. But she did not reach very far before turning around as the sound of something moving quickly came from behind her.

Several things happened as Sakura turned around, a smaller snake barreled into the big one and forced it to lose its grip on Yuuka. A crazy woman dressed scantily with a trench coat on top dropped down on the replies head and put something onto its head. Another woman with short brown hair and a familiar jacket caught Yuuka as she fell from the startled snake's grasp. And lastly, the snake poofed out of their realm with a loud screech of pain or frustration.

It only took a few seconds.

Sakura fell on her knees, her legs finally gave in to the shaking, turning to jelly as she landed on her ass. Her hand was still clenched over the bloody kunai, her knuckles white. She shut her eyes and breathed out, her chest trembling as she exhaled.

"Sakura." A hand touched her shoulder and Sakura reacted on instinct before she could stop herself. Her kunai jammed into the hand, pricing though until she could feel the tip digging just slightly into her shoulder.

Rukia did not make a sound as she immediately pulled her hand back in surprise. She stared for a long while, wide eyed at the kunai sticking through her hand. She looked back to Sakura on the ground as the genin realised what had happened.

"Ouch." Rukia said dully and ripped the kunai out, handing it back to Sakura who looked on with horror. She smiled and began healing the hole. _Good instincts Sakura._

"Oho oho," Anko smirked happily at the blood as she walked over to them and drew a finger over the bloody hand. "Pinkie has gotten herself some balls." She put the bloodied finger into her mouth and moaned.

"Don't eat my blood." Rukia growled and pulled on Anko's arm to rip her finger out of her mouth.

Anko grinned like a cat. "But you're sooo delicious." she moved without a sound as she stole a swipe of blood from Rukia.

Rukia made a growl as she looked at Sakura's arm, she made a demanding gesture. "Arm," Sakura didn't comply, sitting perfectly still in her shock and fear. The pain in her body lessened and Sakura looked over where Rukia had kidnapped her arm, healing Sakura's deep self inflicted wound. "It's going to scar slightly." Rukia said as if it was the most normal thing. Sakura didn't have or want any scars.

Sakura stared wide eyed at the two. Yuuka and herself would have been _dead_ if the two jounin hadn't saved them. It wouldn't have mattered if she had gotten away from the snake, it would have found her eventually.

Yuuka looked at the two grownups, unimpressed by their antics. "How did you defeat it so quickly?"

"Well," Anko said deeply and straightened up, tugging at her trench coat to even out the wrinkles. She looked more self confident like that than Sakura had ever been, "I'm not a little weak brat."

"We're jounin." Rukia added instead as if that answered all their questions.

Sakura suddenly felt a familiar urge and slapped herself in the face. Her arm twitched from Rukia's hold as she held herself back.

Anko leered at Sakura's blood and she shivered at the expression. The Jounin turned to Rukia. "You can't help them with the exam, everyone has no outside help."

Sasuke's teacher rolled her eyes as she massaged Sakura's arm. "Well Orochimaru shouldn't be here either," She looked up and squinted at Sakura's face, "Why are you alone?"

Yuuka answered for her, still acting as Sakura's crutch. "Orochimaru attacked the others while I was out getting an animal."

Anko's body language changed so quickly Sakura flinched, her expression was overtaken with an emotion Sakura couldn't identify. Was it glee, anger, fear or was it a strange mix between?

"Where are they!?" She snapped and rounded on Yuuka, gripping her shoulder harshly, "The shaking stopped a while ago, so we can't pinpoint his location. So if he really went specifically after your team and the fight is over. _That would mean he either_ got what he wanted or got what he wanted."

Sakura hadn't even noticed that the ground had stopped shaking, the small earthquakes must have ended while she fled for her life. She closed her eyes again.

 _ **What the hell!?**_ Yuuka snapped at her and ripped Anko's hands from her body to hold them in a tight hold. "What do you mean got what he wanted!?" Yuuka snapped as it also registered in Sakura what Anko had said.

Anko made a scary face and Sakura paled as she tugged her arms free and ignored Yuuka as she turned around. "It doesn't matter right now! Where is the rest of your team!? I have a snake to brutally and violently violate before I murder his tortured and mutilated body!"

Rukia didn't so much as flinch from Anko's statement. "Distract until backup arrives," She corrected and then looked thoughtful, "or- Well kill if possible."

* * *

Naruto focused out, feeling out for any spark of emotion. His sense of self centered in his chest before reaching out and then, he was _everywhere._ The aura behind him was a mix of positives and negatives, feelings of pain as he took a step mixed with weariness, annoyance and a small bit of wonder. Around was smaller balls of emotions, like stars in the sky against the bright moon. They were mostly filled with a sense of determination and pure instincts.

Naruto opened his eyes, he hadn't even noticed that he'd closed them. Naruto turned to Sasuke and grinned. "No one's here!" he announced and Sasuke relaxed just a bit.

Sasuke smiled with a ruthlessness, all the way through the pain he felt. "Hah- now we can do all those kinky things Sakura thinks we get up to"

"What!?" Naruto shouted and blushed, he'd never- "Why would you say that!?"

Sasuke grinned, amusement spreading out like a fungus. "Because it's true, she does think we get up all kinds of things when her and Yuuka is gone," his voice turned to a whisper. "Maybe we should make it true, I have-"

"-What!? Hell no!"

"-Some fishfingers and custard-" Sasuke paused with an annoyed sound, "let me finish. ...And I was saying. We could eat some, I heard that it should be good, really weird but good."

"Bastard." Naruto said with fondness and pushed his shoulder slightly against Sasuke's. Sasuke yelped and stumbled, grabbing Naruto to stay on his feet. Naruto felt ice in his stomach as his body remembered that Sasuke was injured. He'd pushed him on instinct.

"Sasuke!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shirt and pulled him back upright.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Sasuke insisted and groaned, "But that really hurt, so if you'd please walk on my other side."

Naruto walked in awkward silence after that, almost afraid to say something. He glanced over to Sasuke who seemed not to notice the stale silence hanging between them. His steps were forced and his upper body forcefully still, his movements were slow. Sasuke had a hand on his shoulder, continuing to heal the large wound- even as they walked.

The red chakra flickered and Sasuke frowned, looking up as his Sharingan spun to life. He looked around, narrowing his eyes at a point in the distance. "Genjutsu," he growled. "Wide area effect."

Naruto cursed colorfully, using words he'd learned on the streets of konoha and Sasuke's mess of emotions turned exasperated as his eyes grew distant.

He did that a lot.

"Where's the source?" Naruto asked instead of asking about what distracted Sasuke.

Sasuke tapped his chin and pushed the hair on his right side behind his ear. "I can't be completely sure, but we're just on the edge so I can't tell what exactly it does either."

"We'll go around." Naruto said and looked briefly at Sasuke before looking back into the shadowed forest.

* * *

 _Next chapter: The forest: Kinky snake._

* * *

 **The Meeting**

His blue eyes zoomed around and he relished in the nervous expressions on his companions. His lip cooked up in a smirk and one of them shivered, he could almost taste her fear. He placed his hands on the papers in front of him, just besides the old candles lit for light in the dark room. The second of them startled at the sound of metal, almost jumping out of her skin. When he retracted his hand, a kunai was left with blood smeared on the blade. The third looked at him with dead eyes, she leaned over the table, her emotionless green eyes watching him.

"What did you bring us here for?" She asked, her muscular but thin arms crossed on the table.

The other two nodded carefully, a bit of bravery transferred from the dead eyed one.

"These are why I've brought you here." He observed their reactions as he slid the papers over to them, a cluster of pictures was held to them with a clip. He leaned back into his chair, gauging their individual reactions.

"Wha-what is this?" The shivering one asked, her eyes dared not look at the pictures more than the few seconds they had already looked.

He slammed his fist on the table and it's legs rattled under his hand, the candles dripped liquid wax onto the tables and some of the papers..

The second flinched, and carefully picked up the paper at his look. "We don't know." she said, her eyebrows drawing together as she studied the picture with a light blush.

Blue eyes narrowed.

He knew one of them was hiding something.

"I doubt that none of you were unaware of what I have just shown you." He grasped the shivering one's hand and she froze as he gave a light squeeze.

"I-I don't know an-anything." She denied quickly.

Too quickly.

His blue eyes drilled into hers and he pulled at her hand, forcing her to lean over the table, her stomach hitting the edge. "I actually," He paused for effect, her eyes were unblinking in the face of what he might have deduced, "think you do."

"Hey," The calm one snapped and gripped his arm tightly, "She doesn't know."

He released the girl and leaned back in his squeaking chair, his eyes was shadowed in the dimly lit room. "Can any of you tell me what I want to know?" He asked slowly, making sure they knew exactly what he was asking of them.

"We don't know."

"I see…" He picked up the kunai and gazed it lightly against his thumb, blood spread out from the thin cut. He rubbed the blood with his forefinger and when he looked at it again. It was gone, showing no sign of the cut.

"Please-!" the shivering female squeaked like his chair, desperate, "We don't know!"

His patience snapped like a thick branch and his body snapped forwards, almost reaching the other side. A candle fell down on the cold stone floor, rough palms slapped into the table loudly. All three of them jumped in their chairs and looked at him with wide, worried eyes.

"Hey!" The shout ruined the tense moment and light rushed into the room. They all hissed in pain and shielded their eyes from the light as they froze like deers in the headlights. A shape was standing in the doorway, casting a long shadow and the shivering girl moved into the shadow. "What the hell are you guys doing?" The shadow demanded with clear annoyance.

"Nothing!" Sakura said hurriedly, frantically pushing the papers down on her lap.

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame, a dubious look crossed his face. "I was trying to read-"

"-His erotic novel!" Jeraru screamed two rooms away, his voice easily carrying to them.

" _-a book about trading and politics,_ " Sasuke turned into the direction of the voice as he hissed. He shook his head and looked back at them, eyebrow raised, "You're kinda noisy with all that 'slamming fists on wood.'"

"We'll tone it down." Hinata promised nervously, glancing at Sakura's legs from the corner of her eye..

"Good kids." Sasuke smirked at them and closed the door, closing them back into the darkness.

"That was awkward." Yuuka said as Sakura put out the papers again, spreading them out so they could see every picture clearly.

"It's impossible," Sakura hissed and tapped harshly at the picture, it crumpled slightly under the pressure of her finger. " _That_ can not be Sasuke. No way."

"It _looks_ like him, that's for sure." Hinata frowned, her lip twitched slightly. She was amused at what she saw in the picture.

"Damn, I wish I knew what was going on." Naruto muttered, his eyes not missing Hinata's twitch. "He's obviously keeping some major secrets."

Yuuka looked at the picture again, almost putting up to her nose. "It could very well be one of Sasuke's fan girls."

"They do love the whole duck but thing…" Hinata followed up. "Though personally I think it's an odd hairstyle- and I know that Sasuke thinks it's weird too."

"No," Sakura denied with a shake of her head and slid Hinata's comment to the back of her mind. "That's definitely Sasuke."

"Which brings us to the question of _why._ " Naruto pointed out and stared at Hinata until she briefly glanced away from the picture and noticed his eyes on her.

"I-I don't k-know." she stuttered, her was was red.

"Tell us Hinata." Naruto said, Yuuka and Sakura turned to stare at her.

"Why Sasuke would have." Sakura followed, Naruto held up one of the pictures, the one with the best angle.

"A Really pretty," Yuuka said tonelessly.

"Dress on." Naruto continued.

"While kissing." Sakura said.

"An admittedly hot guy." Yuuka finished.

"You really creep me out when you do that." Hinata averted as she glanced to her left.

"Tell us." Naruto said, practically ignoring her comment with a nasty grin. He closed the distance between her face and the picture, it touched her nose shortly.

"Why." Sakura finished.

"I don't know!" Hinata said desperately, "Believe me! I don't know!"

"I find that hard to believe." A familiar voice said from the darkness.

They all froze and Sasuke walked out, his face illuminated menacingly by the candles. He snatched the picture from Naruto and studied it. His head tilted to the side and a small puff of laughter escaped him.

"Sas-Sasuke." Hinata stuttered in shock.

"How much did you hear?" Yuuka demanded, standing up, her chair scraping loudly on the floor.

Sasuke pulled up a chair and placed a bowl of popcorn on the table, it was half full. "Everything." He took a handful and ate them, two at the time, observing them. The noise of his chewing was like a scream in the silence, He was smirking, red eyes memorising their horrified faces.

"Is it you?" Naruto dared to ask.

"Yup." Sasuke didn't even try to deny it.

"But you're _a guy._ " Sakura hissed.

"So what? Skirts are nice for my legs, very comfy. didn't you know?"

" _Sasuke._ " Yuuka hissed at the easy and mocking reply.

"Fine," He put his hands up, "You got me. It's me and a clone, I do enjoy making kissy faces to myself. How did you think Hinata got the pictures in the first place?" With that, he twirled around them and left, smirking all the way.

The door closed with a loud sound and Sakura stared at the popcorn for a long time. "Was he lying?"

She was asking Naruto, their personal lie detector.

He shook his head miserably, his blonde hair going into his eyes. "I don't know."

"I don't think we'll ever know." Hinata admitted sourly.

"DAMMIT!" Naruto shouted at the wooden roof.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

For those that wanted a continuation of the short extra story from chapter 20 has to wait a bit more- this one had been sitting around collecting dust for a while so I wanted it away.

And to Katsekala since you don't take pm's, Yes, Jeraru's appearance was inspired by Jellal from FT.

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!


	22. Chapter 22: The forest: Kinky snake

_I don't own Naruto, that's it._

* * *

 **Chapter 22: The forest: Kinky snake.**

* * *

Three genin swept through the dense, almost jungle-like forest, jumping under and over plant life, knocking out the occasional animal crossing their path and searching. These three genin were looking for something specific, an animal to be exact. This animal they needed was to be used for passing the exam they were currently in.

The three had so far seen two animals but all of them had been ones they were already in possession of.

One genin turned to speak with the female of the group but no sound came out of his throat as a long deep cut split open though his windpipe. The genin never managed to blink before his body collapsed and exploded with chakra.

The bushes rustled slightly and the two remaining fake genin huddled together, standing back to back.

"Ku ku ku ku." The sound seemed to come from all around them, but only one of the fake genin noticed. His heart speed up as he shivered. "I heard something." he pulled slightly on the female's arm and scowled when she looked at him in confusion. "Where are you?"

There was a long period of deadly silence and the female one stuttered slightly, unnerved by the unnatural quiet. "Ma-maybe he was just dispelled. You know the original can do that."

"I don't think so," The other said and slipped a kunai from his pouch. "Didn't you hear the laughter?"

The female one furrowed her brows and looked oddly at the other. "What laughter? Did you eat something weird?" she asked in concern as she turned her back on the wilderness to check over her companion. "Do you need a switch?"

"Ku ku ku ku ku."

The male one shook his head rapidly as he he heard the laughter flow through the breeze. "There it was again!" he shrieked, pale as his eyes flew around wildly.

"Okay, you're officially…" The female trailed of and made a curious noise when her legs began feeling like air. The others terrified expression turned sickened as it looked down at the female one before she too, exploded.

The other screamed and fell back from the cloud, stumbling away to put distance between the cloud and himself. He looked up where the female one had been and froze in place, like a deer caught in the headlights.

In her place was a woman with long black hair and strange pale clothes with a purple rope tied around her in a bow as a belt. The headband around her forehead marked her as a shinobi from grass. Her yellow eyes narrowed as they watched him and she laughed, walking towards him

He didn't move, even when she was just in front of him. His form was trembling in fear, in his head was a dull throbbing as he tried to will himself into nothingness.

The grass nin didn't speak as she took the last silent step up to his body and with one long look at his face, she plunged her hand deep inside his body. Her hand wrapped around his fake heart and his body finally exploded, spreading thick chakra out over her form.

"Ku ku ku ku ku ku ku ku…"

* * *

Naruto watched as Sasuke's steps became more and more fluid, losing more of the pained rigidness. "How are you feeling?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he puffed out a deep breath.

Sasuke looked over at him and stretched, "Drained," He said with a wince as he touched the angry red scar peeking out his shirt. "I've treated wounds like this one before, just… never on myself. It's different, my own chakra is weaker on myself."

Naruto tilted his head. "I don't really understand. But if you're better then I'm happy."

Sasuke cooed and whispered. "I knew you loved me!"

"Shut up."

Sasuke just laughed at him but went strangely quiet as his head snapped to the side. His whole body turned towards the direction Naruto knew held the center of the genjutsu they were avoiding.

Sasuke remained still. 'Enemy.' He signaled shortly and backed up so he was just slightly in behind Naruto, clutching the two cages to his chest. Naruto tensed, turning slightly so he could protect Sasuke's back in the case of an attack from behind.

"Ku ku ku ku."

The slow echoing chuckle made Naruto freeze, someone had gone close to them entirely undetected by his empathy. "Sasuke-" he whispered quickly, his pulse rising rapidly.

"Yeah." Sasuke's voice was steady, calm but Naruto knew the underlying cloud of absolute fear surrounding him. Someone was able to mask their emotions from Naruto, something that was usually used by jounin technique. But most didn't need to mask their emotions - they mostly used it to diminish killing intent, empaths were _rare_ extremely rare and the fact that their opponent _knew_ to mask his or hers emotions spelled bad news for them.

The chuckle reached their ears again, this time centered on one point. A woman with a grass headband was watching them, her head _sliding_ out from the ground. Her body followed and in seconds she was out. She twirled off the big straw hat on her head and threw it to the side as she smirked widely at them. She held up a cage with a small snake inside, it looked at her with what Naruto could only say was respect and admiration _._

"You desire my snake, right? Since you two seem to have been unable to acquire one."

Naruto growled, the hollow feeling like a never ending pit of _nothing_ he received from her unnerving him. "We already have one you freak!"

Yellow eyes narrowed. "Uzumaki Naruto, the boy with empathy, an ability truly wasted on individuals like you. Do you think yourself invincible? Dear boy, I don't need your untrained special abilities to spot a lie-"

Naruto growled, annoyed, his eyes flickering red. "Shut up!"

A smile filled with malice made its way on her lips as yellow eyes slid over to Sasuke, glancing down at his arms. "I'll get to the point," The grass nin then said and tilted her head back, bringing up her cage and _swallowing_ the cage, with snake and all. It was _gross_ , really, _really gross,_ Sasuke's clear disgust fluttering around him agreed with Naruto _, "_ So why don't we begin this battle for our animals?"

Sasuke shuddered and took a careful half step back. "Can't we just... go each our way?"

"Oh, you do not want to fight?" She hissed curiously and pushed her fingers into her lower eyelid, her grin widened impossibly as her fingers dragged the eyelid down to show unhealthy grey. "How unfortunate that prey don't have the right to decide that then."

She finished speaking and Naruto gasped, a kunai flew at him. He was paralyzed, his legs were rooted to the ground. His hands stiff at his sides.

The kunai pierced the middle of his forehead. His heart sped up.

Blackness followed. Fear taking his form in a way he'd never felt before.

He fell to his knees. The impact feeling like thousands of blades piercing.

He screamed, but no sound came out. His throat hurt, a kunai slashing neatly though his windpipe. He choked.

Choking.

His arms stung, burning up.

His fingers bend, joints slipping, bones breaking, muscles stretching.

Fear.

Pain.

His body was split in half. A ragged blade cut through him.

A kunai dug into his eye. A arm wrapped around him.

Red ran in his eye.

Poison roared down his throat.

Senbon hammered into his fingertips. His feet left the ground.

Chains dragged at his arms and legs. His knees landed on ground.

Earsplitting sounds rang in his skull. A hand hit his face with tremendo-

"-es clones, Naruto! Clones!" Red eyes stared into his, wide and afraid.

A kunai pierced the middle of his for-

"Clones!"

Naruto jerked, heart feeling like it was beating a thousand times per second.

His knees left the ground and was pushed into softer dirt. "Clones!" Sasuke hissed at him, shaking his upper body like a ragdoll.

Naruto snapped to attention, his mind muddy and crossed his fingers. Ten clones puffed to life and hurried dragging him to his feet. Naruto looked around, searching for the crazy grass nin, his body heavy. "Where is she?"

Sasuke shook his head, his movement slightly shaky. He looked at Naruto, light coming down from behind him. "Somewhere. We have to go, can you make more clones?"

Naruto's clone on his right spoke for him. "Yeah- just give the original a few seconds, he's almo-" The clones eyes widened and his words choked off, a hand suddenly grasping the back of his neck. The grass genin stood behind him and lifted her arm. The clone was lifted off the ground, face pale, body frozen.

"I don't need you." With a flick of a hand, the clone was thrown away, smashing into the base of a three. The plant splintered under the force and the clone finally dispelled.

"The prey don't have the right to decide if they want to fight or not, they only flee." The grass genin was almost so close that he could smell her breath. A fresh mint.

Naruto hated mint. He didn't just hate it, he loathed it.

With a passion.

Her tongue snaked out her mouth with unbelievable control and took a long lick at the bottom of her jaw. "So I suggest you _run."_

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice before he took him for a dizzying body flicker. Naruto could almost count the seconds as Sasuke transported him.

"We have to fight," Sasuke panted the moment he stopped his mad sprint and the cages sticking to his arms tumbled to the ground. The summons inside yelped as they were thrown around. "We can't escape, she's too freaking fast."

Naruto frowned but nodded, he wasn't nearly as fast as Sasuke so if he said someone was too fast. Naruto believed it. He crossed his fingers and a couple of clones popped into existence. One of them looked at Sasuke for a second before bursting out immediately. "Let's go with 7h?" He suggested.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think that it will be enough. We need something that can do more damage to her long term. I hate to suggest it but… c1."

Naruto twitched with the memory accompanied with the code but nodded anyway. "Okay, but we better not mess up."

Sasuke nodded and made a fire clone of himself, it nodded at them and jumped up on the high branches with one of Naruto's clones. A quick camouflage later and the two was gone from sight.

Sasuke spread his arms and pulled Naruto in for a hug. His hands gripped Naruto's shoulders, digging into the jacket and skin beneath. The tips of his fingers turned black in the corner of Naruto's eyes and he carefully went through the required hand seals. Chakra gathered at the tips of his fingers, they twitched in uncertainty.

"Relax," Sasuke soothed quietly, "You can do this, we've done this before."

Naruto winced in discomfort as Sasuke's chakra forced it's way into his pathways. "It kinda hurts." he admitted.

Sasuke huffed with amusement. "You don't say?"

No sound gave away the grass nin's position as she walked through a bush, the leaves rustling without noise. "Well, well, well, what desperate moves will my prey make?" The grass shinobi strolled into their path and crossed her arms, waiting smugly.

 _Overconfident._ Naruto thought angrily. _I'll show you what happens when you underestimate to future Hokage! Dattebayo!_

* * *

 _Let's see what Sasuke-kun can do._ Orochimaru chuckled at the two children, he licked his lips in anticipation but tilted his head in puzzlement when they didn't move from their embrace. _Most intriguing…_

Uzumaki-kun snarled, the two turning so Uzumaki was the one facing him. He flashed up his arms and _pushed_ on the thin air, his arms straining from invisible resistance. The air sharpens and _flows_ for a half second before lunching at him. Orochimaru feels a shudder as he pushes raw wind chakra in a similar manner to defend from the powerful wind jutsu, it is not everyday he meets someone who can match winds with him. Orochimaru gained ground but then Uzumaki hisses and the invisible blades of wind turn black, visible.

It takes a second for Orochimaru to feel the drain, the newly transformed wind is _eating_ his chakra, using it to become stronger, like a fuel on a fire. Orochimaru reacts the second his defences fail to hold the wind back and he leaps back and dodges behind a tree, the place he'd been standing was torn up by wind.

The landscape around him is torn up as he watches, plants looking like nothing more than a plate of salad. Orochimaru felt a small sting on his arm and glanced down, he'd been gazed slightly, a drop of blood staying on the cut.

Sasuke-kun let go of his teammate, flinging around to face Orochimaru. Fire flew from his hands, like a thrown dagger, into the black air. Orochimaru felt a chill and the dagger imploded with the enchanting qualities of wind chakra. The genin threw themselves to the ground, the _explosion_ of fire passing over them harmlessly.

The tree Orochimaru took cover behind, creaked and Orochimaru fled as fire came crashing down on his position.

He stretched his body around a tree when the fire died down and grinned wildly at the burn accompanying the cut he'd gotten earlier. _That's what I wanted to see… Sasuke-kun..._

The forest before him had become a spacious clearing, sooth and ash covered the ground and painted everything with grey or black. He stepped out into the ashes, the two genin were gone and the hunt was _on._

Orochimaru smiled and slipped to the side as heat swept down past his shoulder. He turned to catch the incoming punch from Sasuke but with a burst of chakra, Sasuke was replaced with Naruto. A wind jutsu was on his hands and a small whirlwind tried cut Orochimaru into small bits. The wind frenzy expanded and the Naruto clone was killed.

He dug his hands into the earth and a wall rose from the ground to shield him. The wind made a high pitched noise as it scraped on the solid earth. Sasuke took this distraction to try and dig a hole in his lower back with a fire dagger, but Orochimaru wasn't easily distracted and bend under Sasuke's wide slash. Clones swarmed the area and Sasuke-kun was switched with yet another clone, only to be replaced with a random one close to him. Sasuke never went for any lethal areas in the random attacking that could only be possible for someone with a Sharingan. The shift in placement was unlike that of the Lightning god technique from the simple fact that Sasuke had no control of where he'd end up.

 _Interesting… it seems Kabuto's Intel was correct, Sasuke-kun really won't go for a lethal assault. And his Taijutsu is a bit better than reported._ Orochimaru chuckled a bit as he watched Sasuke-kun's eyes snap to him every time he was switched. _Let's see how desparation affects Sasuke._

Orochimaru turned around at the burst of chakra from a substituting clone, immediately going on the offensive, Orochimaru meet the dagger of fire with a water enchanted kunai. He made a split decision after pushing Sasuke back into a desperate defence and grabbed his arm to throw him towards his teammate.

It was quite an interesting view, Orochimaru decided as they tried to untangle their limbs from each other, their fear making them fall into each other more. Orochimaru hopped over to the two and snatched up Naruto by a flailing arm, using the boy as a club, he swung him into Sasuke.

The dark haired boy was thrown back, rolling over the ground and Orochimaru quickly threw him back at his teammate.. Orochimaru chuckled at the sight.

"Okay!" Sasuke finally shouted as he rolled up to his feet, winded from getting beaten around and held up his hands. They shook slightly, exhaustion clear. "Stop throwing us into each other!"

"Negotiation?" Orochimaru smirked curiously with a shiver as the boy's fully evolved Sharingan gazed at him, it was a very _impressive_ sight. _I want those eyes…_

"What the hell Sasuke!?" Naruto stood up, energy bouncing off his form as he shouted loudly at his teammate. He pushed Sasuke slightly, making him stumble and Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow, "You can't just stop to talk!"

"So what!?"

"Kakashi-sensei told us before! Just don't do it!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shirt, forgetting the danger that was Orochimaru.

 _Are they fighting?_ Orochimaru slid his tongue out in amusement.

"The hell I can-!" Orochimaru's eyes almost missed it when Sasuke was unexpectedly sent flying at him, hands outstretched. "Huuuug!" He shouted, his eyes closed and Orochimaru froze, muscles tensing as the boy's arms wrapped around him in a tight hug.

It had been… Orochimaru did not even remember the last time he had been hugged. He'd never speak of how, in those few seconds of arms wrapped around him, he'd felt calm and _content_. It was an odd sensation. Then, to crush the moment, the boy caught on fire. Orochimaru was startled out of his daze, his eyes caught the fire clones for a second before it was completely consumed with fire. He raised an eyebrow and switched with a random broken branch.

Orochimaru stepped out in front the two breathless boys, unscathed from their most recent attempt at defeating him. "Most impressive Sasuke-kun, as expected from one of the Uchiha. To be able to use the full Sharingan at this age… just as I suspected, you're good. I want you."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" Naruto demanded as Sasuke baffled said,

"You _want me!?"_

Orochimaru gapped the skin on his head, clutching hair and dragged down, freeing himself of the disguise. "I am Orochimaru and I want to test your power, brother of Itachi."

Sasuke flinched at his name, his eyes widening. " _Fuck_ ," he hissed narrowing his eyes challenging. He glanced over at his teammate for a second, they were aware of what was on each other's minds and Naruto made an unknown hand sign, " _Fuck, shit we're so fucking dead."_ Sasuke cursed the sun, the bugs under his bed, the gods and himself.

Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at the colorful swearing. "Language dear Sasuke-kun." he taunted.

"Sooo you want to test ...me?" Sasuke asked, clearly stalling for time. "If that's the case, then ...why don't you just stay right there!?" Sasuke snarled the last part of his sentence and crouched down, grabbing Naruto's hand as his legs bend. He slapped his free hand on the ground and a decent sized seal spread out from his hand. Orochimaru's expression turned gleeful in the second before the forest was in hauled in chakra smoke.

A roar erupted from the smoke and a scaled foot slammed down in the ground, creating tremors. Sasuke and Naruto was lifted up by the animal Sasuke had summoned, rising high into the sky. It was large, bipedal with a scaled and slightly feathered body, a long tail ran from its horizontal back and sharp claws curled from the hanging arms. A large narrow head with a jaw lined with long teeth were connected to its body. It's scales were green with a slight mix of blue for camouflage while its feathers were a sharp, almost purple dark blue.

 _Now that's impressive, and even with a summoning animal I was unaware of._

* * *

"Hey… Koga." Sasuke panted, sweat dripping down his brow from using so much chakra to summon the dinosaur. Naruto was holding onto him tightly as he stuck his feet to the scales, holding them both to Koga.

"Sasuke," Koga grunted roughly as his yellow eyes moved around like lighting, looking though the white chakra clouds around him. His head moved like a bird as he moved around, watching the surroundings, "What forced you to summon me?"

It was Naruto who answered. "Orochimaru of the sannin. Right now we're making as much noise as possible, hopefully one of the Jounin will reconise that this battle is to big and come. So make some noise please.

"Really now? I can do that." Koga answered with a smirk, "And you must be Naruto. So hold on kid, something's coming!"

Naruto just secured his grip when a snake, - the same size as Koga if not a bit bigger - sprung out at them. It was dark blue with mean orange eyes. The snake's mouth was wide open, poisonous teeth at the ready. Koga shifted with a harsh step, turning his side to the snake with tremors that spread throughout the forest.

Spears of earth shot up through the plant life, sharp points gazing the side of the snake summon, leaving deep gashes in its scales. The attack did not stop the reptile and Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with desire as he closed in.

Koga made an awkward jump to the side as he dodged the long fangs. He roared at the reptile, turning to face it head on and the earth split beneath his feet in a powerful earth jutsu.

The snake hesitated in surprise as a large part of its body sunk into the ravine Koga made with a simple snap of his chakra. Koga surged forwards, dodging the snake's head he bit down, just before its head. He ripped with his claws and Koga glared at the excited Orochimaru and left a bleeding mess in the snake as he withdrew, a few steps to put distance between them.

Orochimaru jumped of the snake as it returned back to its home and made a hand seal. The snake like man made a circular motion with his hands and fire stormed out like a blazing tornado.

Koga was quick to make a wall of earth but not quick enough to completely block the fire. The top of Orochimaru's attack burst over their heads as Koga pulled himself down to the ground. "You two okay?" He growled softly as as he leaned on the earth.

"Yeah, we're good." Naruto replied as Sasuke glared at him, tugging his burned sleeve up his arm.

"Good, then let's kill this-"

The wall shielding them shattered and the pieces of rock and dirt was shot at them as an even bigger snake barreled into Koga with tremendous force. Naruto was hit in the forehead by rubble in the chaos and lost his grip on Sasuke. Sasuke fell down, thrown from the chaos, landing on his arm with a painful crunch and scream.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted in alarm and almost fell of himself when Koga smashed his foot into the ground, creating more tremors as he manipulated the ground. The dinosaur roared at Orochimaru and his second summon as he used the earth under Sasuke to move his body away from the fight.

Just as Sasuke was a decent distance away, the snake moved like lightning, biting down on Koga's tail. "You're disssstracted by your weak ssssummoner." The snake hissed and whipped its tail around, smashing Koga's skull into a tree.

The dinosaur roared and snapped wildly after the snake, his eyes blown wide.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted as Koga made a mad dash at Orochimaru's summon, smashing into the side of its head. A chill went down his back and Naruto looked over at their opponent. The man was entirely calm, his face set in glee, but even when Naruto could feel the man's eagerness for battle, there was an underlying calm. Like nothing they could do would affect him. Like they where insects facing a boot.

The moment was over and the snake had used it's more advanced mobility to twist around and make a final blow to Koga. The dinosaur was smashed against a tree and with a final growl, Koga was forced back into the spirits dimension.

Naruto squeaked as he lost his footing. As he fell toward the ground, Orochimaru's snake's mouth grabbed around his body, swallowing him.

Naruto blacked out to Orochimaru's chuckles.

* * *

Naruto woke up, lying down in water with the surface almost reaching the corners of his eyes. He gasped in surprise as his body launched up to his feet. Naruto quickly looked around, asserting his situation.

He was inside a sewer, leaking pipes ran in the corners and dripped brown water into the larger pool at his feet, large bars, too far apart to keep him in - like a giant cage was at one side with a seal slicked to the gates.

* * *

 _Chapter 23: The forest: A cup of blood_

* * *

 _Story thing… what did i call it? ah- Side story_

* * *

Sazu squinted at the paper in his hands. "You're saying that I can't leave because some elders decided they want to study me like a frog? You do realise that I have a home in some other world, right? I promised a spar with Sasuke, but that's _it._ "

Hiruzen gave Sazu his best, 'I apologise, but I'm just a powerless old man' look. "That is… crudely put, but correct."

Sazu rolled his eyes as he breathed in and massaged his temples. "Okay," he breathed out with a small puff of fire following. "I can't say I'm not curious about this other world, but I will go home. Even if it's not for a few weeks, if you _try_ to keep me…" Sazu tailed of seriously, creating tension with a trick he learned from Ibiki. "Then I'll cry. I'll cry a lot and it _will_ be gross."

Kakashi snorted in amusement at Sazu's treat. "Don't worry Sazu, my team will take _care_ of you."

"I hope you do Kakashi, some of my advisors has shown interest in just taking Sasuke to be experimented on." The third sighed and dismissed them without further talk.

Sazu grinned as they walked out the Hokage tower. "Well that was exciting." They had just begun the spar between him and Sasuke when a messenger bird flew over them with the summon, which meant that he managed to escape from the spar for a good while.

Kakashi looked at him. "I do not see how you'd find that amusing. You've been cut off from everyone you know." he said it bluntly, sparing him no pleasantries.

"Well, I've gotten quite used to letting people push me around." Sazu shrugged. "It makes them let their guard down for me to strike at what I want."

"clever."

Sazu grinned. "Don't you just wish I was on your team." he teased as they neared the remaining members of team 7.

"No." Kakashi-sensei said distractedly down his book.

"That's good," Sazu praised. "Have the cute genin wormed their way into their impassive sensei's heart?"

Kakashi did not respond as Naruto came into view.

* * *

It was decided that Sazu would receive a temporary apartment until he was allowed home. Sazu who knew he'd end up spending a long time in the unfamiliar world, made himself at home. His friends weren't there, but he could make some new ones.

Even if he had to leave them at some point anyway.

In his plan of making the best living conditions for himself, Sazu weaseled his way into the medic force. Work at the hospital was like he was used to, he only difference was that Rukia wasn't there.

Sazu had asked the Hokage about her on his second day.

She'd died a few years prior to Sazu's appearance in their world, the Hokage concluded that her obligation to him had kept her away from the mission that ultimately took her life.

Needless to say, Sazu did not leave his apartment for a while. It took the team dragging his ass out for him to even glance away from the knives Rukia had given him for his birthday.

Then, two weeks after his arrival, Sazu couldn't escape it anymore and Sasuke finally got his spar.

* * *

Sazu groaned as Sasuke charged him with kunai, his Taijutsu leaps better than his own but still worse than Hina's. Sasuke stepped too heavily, his form wasn't flexible enough for his style. Sazu recognised it from the taijutsu scrolls in his house, it was the one traditionally used with the Sharingan.

But Sasuke hadn't activated his Sharingan and his movements were too slow.

Sazu pushed one of Sasuke's arms away after a brief exchange of Taijutsu (He was slowly losing, why was he losing against that snotty version of himself?) and slapped his palm against his chest. He channeled a smaller amount of chakra out with a burst and Sasuke was blown a good distance away.

Sazu stared long at Sasuke when he didn't get up for a few seconds and body flickered over to stare at him. He didn't move, laying perfectly still, his eyes closed. _Please don't be dead,_ Sazu prayed silently to whatever gods in existence as he checked Sasuke's breathing by holding a hand to his open mouth.

Sazu looked up at the three worried (though Kakashi didn't look worried, Sazu was sure he was at least slightly concerned) bystanders. "Well, bad news are that he's still alive, just unconscious."

Sakura slumped in relief and ripped herself from Kakashi-sensei's grip to rush over and carefully cradle Sasuke's head. "He's going to be okay?" she asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Sazu forced his face into a grin and scratched his chin. "Yeah, he just hit his head, he'll be fine after a small amount of Sasuk- Sazu magic!" Sakura brightened and looked down at Sasuke, her face turning slightly red as she stared with such love and admiration that Sazu had to turn his face away to wince. Seeing Sakura like that was painful. She'd been like that when he'd first meet her but it had quickly worn off a bit and he'd managed to kill most of her remaining stalker-ness with his own awesomeness.

 _Loser-ness_ a voice that sounded suspiciously like Naruto said in his head.

"Anyway," Sazu deflect his own thoughts. "So that must count as my win, right? No more fighting Sasuke and I can be free to watch the three of you do D-ranks while eating great and unhealthy desserts."

Naruto stared at him, eyebrows drawn tight but didn't say anything as he looked over to Sazu's glowing hand on Sasuke's head. "Can you teach me that?" he eventually asked, quite loudly, his face lighting up in excitement.

"Well." Sazu stood up and brushed some lingering dirt from his pants. _Time to crush some dreams,_ he thought dryly, and Naruto just looked so like his own. "If you'd like to blow someone's body to soup with one hit, then yeah, sure. I'll teach you if."

"Uhhh," Naruto said, unnerved by Sazu's response, "but that's not what happened when you did it."

Sazu looked away from Naruto as he ignored Sakura's quiet sobbing to stare flatly at Kakashi, his eyes conveying the message of ' _Are you serious?'_

Kakashi looked up from his book stared back lazily.

Sazu breathed deeply, _this world is infuriating._ "Right, so. Since you have less than ideal chakra control and too much chakra for any person to legally have, an attempt at what I did would squish whatever it's used against into a very disgusting soup."

"Chakra!" Naruto shouted and rounded on Kakashi-sensei, "It's that thing Sakura talked about! What does it mean to have too much of it?"

Sazu carefully lifted his hand from Sasuke's face as Kakashi began explaining chakra storages to Naruto. His hand clenched and he stood up, ignoring the confused sound Sakura made. "I think I'll go back home now." he said, not managing to keep the tired exhaustion from his voice. Sazu turned from the other team 7, beginning the hand seals for a summoning.

They were making him sick.

Sazu blacked out.

* * *

Sazu rolled his eyes at Naruto, "I fainted," he asked doubtfully. "and not because the four ANBU following me knocked me out?"

"Yes." Kakashi confirmed.

Sazu rolled his eyes and opened a book on medical techniques. "Do you know how _little_ I don't believe a word that's left your mouth since I woke up?" he asked distractedly as he read an interesting passage about experimental mixtures that seemed a lot like something he'd read a good 7 years ago.

Naruto growled, getting angry. "Why won't you believe us!?"

"Because I don't?" Sazu said and glanced briefly at Naruto, "As I've said before, I don't know you people and you're actually salt getting rubbed into the open wound that is my world."

"What Sazu here is trying to say," Kakashi-sensei spoke in his teacher "You better listen or it'll come to bite you in the ass later" voice. "Is that he's a bit paranoid and the absence of his usual method of comfort is making him overly distrusting."

Sazi snored in his book and flipped a page. "I'm always paranoid." He said absentmindedly.

Sakura ducked her head in shame and looked away from him to look at Sasuke . "I'm sorry you feel that way Sazu-kun."

"Yeah- well, nothing you guys can do about it for now. Besides it's not you guys I don't trust- I trust you guys like- 30%" Sazu grimaced at a graphic image in the book, who the hell put mutilated bodies on books 13 year olds could get a hold on. "So I was thinking about taking a break for a while, make some chaos, kiss some ladies or gentlemen- I don't really have to watch my reputation here so… _I am gonna do everything my whims tell me…"_ Sazu ended his small speech with an evil laugh, earning some odd looks.

Sakura furrowed her brows and stared for a good second. "You're gay!?" she shouted, her hair standing at their ends.

Sazu put his book down and looked at her, "Is that really what you took from that? That I'd kiss guys? Really?"

Sakura hid her face in embarrassment and turned away from him. "Ah-"

Sazu shook his head in amusement and grinned. "Well anyway- since I don't really want to be with you guys more than I have to. I've got some stuff to do- away from you four." he snapped his finger making a popping sound with his mouth and his body burst into flames. Sakura and Naruto screamed in surprise as Kakashi and Sasuke merely twitched.

The flames rescinded and Sazu was nowhere to be seen.

"WHAT THE HELL DATTEBAYO!?"

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

* * *

Koga is a Carcharodontosaurus for those interested.

To Katsekala who dosent take PM's: Thank you for the kisses i think?

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!


	23. Chapter 23: The forest: A cup of blood

_I don't own Naruto, that's it._

 **Chapter 23: A cup of Blood**

* * *

Naruto woke up, lying down in water with the surface almost reaching the corners of his eyes. He gasped in surprise as his body launches up to his feet. Naruto quickly looks around, asserting his situation.

He was inside a sewer, leaking pipes ran in the corners and dripped brown water into the larger pool at his feet, large bars, too far apart to keep him in - like a giant cage was at one side with a seal slicked to the gates.

He instantly knew where he was, his mind somehow knowing the moment he woke. That was even if there wasn't a giant orange red fox-bunny behind the bars, sneering at him.

Naruto eyed the demon carefully and swallowed, that was the creature that had been the source of so much pain, not just his personal suffering but the suffering of thousands. He was face to face with the strongest of tailed beasts. One red eye opened and glared at him and the demon's mouth stretched, showing off gleaming teeth as a soft growl echoed around the sewer.

" **So you finally come here seeking my power?"**

Naruto jumped when he spoke and the voice had definitely been male. "Uh- No- I don't- I mean- I mean I didn't even know I could see you."

Red eyes regarded Naruto with hatred. " **My question still stands human, are you here to steal my power?"**

"No," Naruto repeated and scratched his strangely dry neck, "I didn't even know that I could see you, as I said."

" **Ha!"** The nine tails sat up and towered over Naruto, looking down his nose at the blonde, " **You come here without purpose!** _ **Last time you**_ _**begged**_ **me to kill the man who grinned like the Cheshire cat! And you say you don't Lust for my power now that you stand against a man who is like a god to you?"** The fox put his head up to the bars and barked with laughter. " **I don't believe it! You humans are always the same!"**

Naruto felt like the fox had personally offended him, but that wasn't the reason for his stunned silence. "What do you mean? I never talked to you!"

 **"Ha! As if a higher being like me needs to verbally communicate!"** The fox sneered at him, almost level with Naruto, letting him feel the demon's warm breath, " **The demand for my power was wrapped around your anger, so who was I to deny my kind jailer of his wish."**

"You're the one that attacked Sasuke!" Naruto accused angrily.

The fox snorted. " **As if I would let the opportunity pass! My influence over you was almost as good as gone when I heard him! But I knew that it was my chance for revenge!"**

Naruto hissed, pointing. "Don't use my body to attack my friends you stupid overgrown bunny!"

Naruto flinched when the foxes giant paw clashed against the bars with a loud clang, it's long narrow claws sticking out, well past Naruto. " **You dare call** _ **me**_ **a puny** _ **bunny**_ **!?"**

Naruto looked back in defiance.

"Yes I do. Or do you prefer fuzzy jelly?"

The fox laughed at his statement, an insane gleam in his eyes as he stared at nothing. " **Fuzzy jelly…"** as the fox calmed down, muttering the two nicknames, Naruto took a few steps back so he was out of range from the claws.

When Naruto decided that the demon must have calmed enough, he asked. "How do I get back?"

Red eyes looked at him and the fox smirked. " **Just close your eyes, this** _ **is**_ **your garbage mind, you rule this space."**

Naruto muttered at the comment about his mind and nodded, closing his eyes.

Nothing happened.

"It didn't work you fuzzy jelly! Why didn't it work!?" Naruto demanded and the fox laughed mockingly in his face.

 **"This is your mind brat! You think you can lie to yourself!? You want my power! You desire it! Like Like a spoiled kid you come here and you dare think I'll just hand my power to** _ **you**_ **?"**

"But I _don't_ want your power!" Naruto shouted in denial, he wanted to be hokage and to be hokage he needed to be _strong_. But getting his strength from a demon was not what he wanted.

It wasn't.

There was no short cuts to Hokage.

" **Yet you cannot leave, can you? I doubt you came here for a chat! Especially when you were fighting that snake!"** The ninetails laid down in front of him on his stomach and crossed his arms under his head, " **Admit it Human, you're just like the rest of your species! You want what I have."**

Naruto growled at the fox. It talked about humans like they had attacked a village without reason, just because it suited them. How he wanted the demon to eat it's own words, but his mind couldn't come up with anything.

" **So you admit it?"** The fox asked with a gleam as Naruto was silent.

"No!" Naruto snapped and lowered his voice, "And _if I somehow_ actually wanted your stupid power deep down-"

" **Ha! You admit it!"** The fox barked in triumph and rose to his feet, his tails lashed behind him, " **But I won't give you** _ **any**_ **not even a single** _ **drop**_ **of my chakra!"**

"Then let me go!" Naruto hissed and slapped a hand against the bars. When had he even moved?

" **I can't let you go. Only you can decide to leave, I can keep you in here for a time. But this is all your human greed."**

Naruto grit his teeth, he did not have time to stand ankle deep in water and talk to a demon. Orochimaru was attacking them and Sasuke needed his help. "Then give me the damn chakra so I can go! and don't try to attack Sasuke!"

" **I already told you! I won't help you or your fractured friend!"**

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted right back, and the sewer seemed to shrink, "You tell me that I can only get out if you give some of your power! And you refuse!?"

" **Do not talk to me like that human!"** nine tails roared, " **I will not give you** _ **my power**_ **willy nilly whenever** _ **you**_ **want without anything in exchange!"**

"Name your terms." Naruto said with gritting teeth.

 **"I want you to take off that bastard sea-"**

"No."

" **-Excuse me?"**

Naruto stared up at the red eyes impassively. "I said no. I'm your prison, so I'm the one in charge. So what do you want that I can give you?"

" **Ho oh and the boy takes charge,"** The nine tails seemed pleased, " **I want to get out of this sewer… and a cup of your Uchiha friends blood every month."** He added with a grin.

"I already told you that I can't let you out!"

The ninetails huffed and rolled his eyes. **"I didn't mean to let me put of this pathetic seal and I doubt you hairless ape would do it willingly anyway. But I want you to change the scenery. I'm going to be here until you dump your pathetic hide in some filthy ditch and I** _ **don't**_ **want to live here in that time."**

Naruto blinked, he couldn't do that, but the fox had said that he was the ruler of his own mind. _Maybe if I..._ Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated on the sewer and let the image of it rot away to leave an ever expanding plain of grass with a massive tree in the middle, inside he imagined the ninetails trapped in the hollow trunk with bares ensuring that he could not get out.

Naruto opened his eyes and the area was almost exactly like he had imagined it, just with more details, making it seem more realistic.

The ninetails looked around in… delight? Naruto wasn't sure that he would be able to call it that, but the fox certainly seemed content with it. " **Not bad Kid, now for the last part."**

"You can't be serious." Naruto deadpanned, mortified.

" **No I'm not, I want a cup filled and I want you to drink it!"**

Naruto paled at the thought of drinking his teammates blood for a demon fox, even if it meant he would never leave his own mind. "Can't I just make some toys or something for you?"

The nine tails slammed into the bars with anger. **"You take me as a pet!? Do not be so insolent with me human!"** He roared and clawed at him, long blades never reaching Naruto.

Naruto groaned and ripped at his own hair. "I can't drink Sasuke's blood!"

" **Then how about this, you give me a cup so I can look at it and we'll make and other deal next time and I won't be so merciful the next time you demand my power."**

"What do I tell him? 'Oh hey Sasuke! Can I have a whole cup filled with your blood? I really need it because the demon on my gut demanded it in payment,'" Naruto snorted, "Like that will go well."

The demon growled. **"That's your problem, I want the blood before these pointless Chunin exams are over."**

Naruto hissed in frustration, it was going to be difficult but Sasuke was pretty chill so he probably wouldn't have too many questions. Or really think it was all that weird. He could do it. He'd just have to ask. "Okay, you have a deal."

Crimson bubbling chakra seeped out the cage and made a ring around his feet, Naruto slipped into darkness.

* * *

Sasuke knew three things when he shook off his semi daze and looked around himself to get his situational awareness up.

One, his arm was broken three centimetres from his elbows.

Two, Naruto was covered in that same jelly that had been covering him while they were in wave. This time it had two tails, sprouting from Naruto's ass. Sasuke thought back on how Naruto had attacked him last time he'd been covered in jelly and decided to try and keep his distance. Naruto hadn't told the team about the red jelly, so Sasuke would worry about it at a later date.

Three, He was freaking starving and as if to prove it his stomach growled like jelly Naruto.

Well- number three would have been the fact Naruto was fighting Orochimaru on equal footing. Which either meant that Orochimaru was holding back or Naruto's unknown bloodline somehow gave him enough physical power to push him back.

Naruto roared as he sped through the air and twisted his legs around Orochimaru's head, twisting Orochimaru's head around, an attack that should have been a killing blow if natural body limits where something the sannin was physically aware of. His head had twisted around like an owl.

Sasuke grimaced when Naruto was thrown bodily into the ground and his knee was stepped on with enough force to bend the leg up, Naruto's sandaled foot sticking painfully up in the air.

Then Orochimaru pulled up his sleave, fire burning at the tips of his fingers. Sasuke clenched his teeth, gathering his pitiful leftover chakra and body flickered over besides Naruto. Orochimaru hesitated for a second when he saw him, a second that could not have been a mistake on his part but a calculated move. Sasuke grabbed Naruto in the meantime and took him away, tears blurring his vision as his broken arm screamed. The red gel around his teammate burned his arm holding him and chest, but Sasuke continued, hissing out a long stream of profanities to manage the burning pain.

"Okay, that's enough." Sasuke hissed, the pain getting too unbearable as he dropped Naruto a good distance away from Orochimaru. He wiped tears from his eyes and turned in Orochimaru's direction. The Sannin was staring past Sasuke and a shiver went down Sasuke's back. His eyes widened as hot breath tickled the rising hairs on his neck. He turned, slowly and his already ragged breath stuttered. Naruto was up on his feet, looking at him. Standing. On two legs. With a completely healed leg.

 _Fuck me._

"Ummm…" Sasuke said nervously as Narutos red eyes glared at him with hatred. He couldn't help but wonder if that was how he looked when he used the Sharingan. And if it was, then he had a reason to be proud of himself.

Naruto growled at him before looking past him like Orochimaru had done and shoved Sasuke to the side, throwing him to the ground as he walked past. "Thanks." Sasuke muttered to the dirt and pulled himself to his feet. He followed the jelly Naruto silently and was rewarded by being ignored. Jelly Naruto didn't acknowledge him as he suddenly _jumped_. Sasuke's stumbled, clothes and hair getting blown away from the small shock wave the jump had created.

"I repeat. Thanks," Sasuke grumbled and took the time of relative peace to breathe deeply, regulating his breath. His chakra was running out fast, he had a broken arm, a broken and bruised rips, burns from Naruto, several cuts and bruises, he had lost some blood, his head was fuzzy, the uninjured part of his body ached and he was hungry. "Great."

" _ **I could help!"**_ Mister Shadow suggested nicely, his voice filled with eagerness, suddenly showing up.

Sasuke slumped down on the ground and watched Naruto fight Orochimaru, it was an amazing battle, nothing like watching Anko and Rukia spar. _Hmmm, let's see… how about... no!_

" _ **Don't sound so appalled bitch, it's not the end of the world. Loads of dicks choose it all the time!"**_

 _Yeah? Well good I'm not a dick then_. Sasuke rolled his eyes and began fumbling his first aid kit open. Medical shinobi were supposed to stay back, so how come Sasuke _always_ got the most injuries.

" _ **Hmph,"**_ Mister Shadow huffed with fake hurt and Sasuke could imagine that he was pouting, " _ **Okay, do it yourself. Then you can come crawling back to my gracious arms later."**_

"I'll treat you to dinner if that happens." Sasuke replied out loud as he finished up his sling and staggered off towards the commotion. He did not get far, Naruto crashing into his path, rolling ungratefully until he slid to a stop. The red gel around him spluttered, and slowly disappeared. Naruto gasped with pain, his leg twisted at an unnatural angle that had Sasuke wishing that he didn't have to look at it. Sasuke lightly patted Naruto's head and walked away from his teammate to face Orochimaru and protect Naruto.

Running wouldn't do anything against a sannin and their combination attack didn't seem to be working enough, so his only option was to fight until he left, they got backup or they both died. Sasuke prefered the first and second option.

"Can't you just leave us?" He asked hopefully. _Please…_ he pleaded inside.

* * *

The knives flew past the sannin, cutting over ten thin wires that immediately released the collection of small seals in the surrounding area. Electricity traveled more wires, connecting and making a spiderweb. Orochimaru didn't make a sound as the Lightning entered his body and he stilled, twitching. _God bless Naruto and his traps._

Sasuke flung himself at Orochimaru, knife in hand and sliced at his throat. Orochimaru slid to the side, like no lightning jutsu had hit him. Sasuke panicked as he flew past the sannin and bit down on orochimaru's ear with all the force of his jaw. Orochimaru snarled and grabbed Sasuke's foot, swinging him away. Sasuke was slammed into a tree and his leg crunched at the contact, making two out of his four limbs useless.

Fuck _\- what's with all the fucking trees!? S_ asuke slid down the tree, never hating Konoha's beautiful nature so much. He winced and spit out the blood and ear he had bitten off in disgust. He spit out some more blood, his stomach feeling weird as he tried to clean out his mouth from the foul taste. It tasted like poison.

 _Never doing that again._

Orochimaru touched the bloody mess that had been his ear. "Sasuke-kun, join me and you will never have to conceal yourself again."

Sasuke blinked, tired. "Hide? When do I have to hide?"

"Hiruzen keeps you in chains, blackmails you and uses your own secrets to keep you where he wants you. In his hands, like a dog. Join me, and you will be free."

Sasuke frowned at the man's words and licked his lips, gagging at the metallic taste of blood. He would _definitely_ never be doing that again. "It's not like-" Sasuke cut himself off with a wheeze, his chakra was done for "I don't believe you," Orochimaru smirked at his statement, " _But I don't believe_ _you_."

The snake man's smirk turned around into a frown and he looked down at him. "Fine." He _hissed_ and his neck extend at blazing speeds, mouth open wide, like a snake. Naruto shouted, his form moving in the corner of Sasuke's eye.

Sasuke jerked, his jaw dropping in more surprise than pain when the man's teeth sank painfully into his neck like a _vampire_. From what Sasuke knew, there weren't any vampires in this world.

He withdrew his head as Sasuke quickly put pressure on his neck, desperately channeling what chakra he had left to heal himself. Orochimaru could have hit something that would kill Sasuke in minutes, his chakra fluttered. His remaining chakra rejected his command to instead wiggle uncomfortably, like a worm crawling beneath his skin. Sasuke's vision blurred.

"You will seek me out Sasuke-kun… you will seek me out to gain the freedom you desire."

Sasuke blinked bleary before falling over from chakra exhaustion and pain. "What did you do!?" Naruto growled as he caught Sasuke in his arms.

Orochimaru smirked as he began his retreat, Anko was approaching fast and his limbs had begun to feel . Sasuke would survive the seal, Orochimaru could feel it in his bones. "I gave Sasuke-kun a little goodbye gift…"

* * *

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura jumped down besides her teammates in a blur of movement and stiffened as she watched Naruto cradling Sasuke as he screamed and tried to fight his way out of Naruto's grip. Tears swelled in her eyes as she crouched down to help Naruto hold Sasuke still. Sasuke was always the last standing on their team, it was the shinobi rules. But he had been the first to go every time in the whole exam, first with the sound genin, then with Orochimaru. They hadn't been able to do their duty and protect him. "Sasuke-kun…"

Anko landed besides them silently and Naruto didn't even look up from his fight with Sasuke as his arm pointed to his left. "He's that way, he left a few minutes ago." he said loudly and shortly.

"Good boy." Anko praised and without showing any care for Sasuke's pained screaming, she jumped away. Anticipation and hate was practically pouring off her like a thick mist as she jumped in the direction Naruto pointed.

"Anko!" Rukia shouted angrily after the purple haired woman as she landed down besides the three genin, "Always rushing… what happened to him?" she demanded and looked over Sasuke, placing a medical induced hand on his forehead. Sasuke immediately slumped, falling unconscious.

"He put a seal on him, it's reacting oddly, like it's fighting something. But I'm not good enough to analyse it further than that it's definitely a cursed seal." Naruto scowled and tilted Sasuke's head to the side and showed off the Sharingan like mark on Sasuke's neck.

Rukia gritted her teeth and the cured seal flashed purple, then red, like Sasuke's chakra. "Don't worry about the seal." she ran her healing chakra over Sasuke.

"'Don't worry?!'" Sakura hissed and gestured violently to Sasuke who was withering in his sleep, "look at him, he's suffering, even when unconscious!"

Rukia shook her head and turned to leave them. "He'll be fine, someone like Sasuke won't let something like Orochimaru's cursed seal take him with it. You four will go hide now. Sakura, Yuuka, protect them. I have a snake to gut, and I don't mean Anko."

"We got him, he's infected." Naruto said quickly before Rukia left. Rukia nodded shortly to show that she heard and with that, the Jounin left the four alone.

* * *

Anko grinned, he was close. She could feel his disgusting presence. It was the only thing she could focus on, him. She was going to get him, kill him. She was the one who had been his student once and that meant she knew the basic principles of his base strategies. That would be his downfall.

Anko stopped and turned to the man behind her. He was sticking out a tree, upside down. "It's my job, right Orochimaru?"

"That's impossible…" Orochimaru hissed slowly and Anko smirked when she noticed the subtle hint of exhaustion in his body language. The mere fact that she could see even a little part had her smirking. Those brats must have run him to the bone.

"You thought I was dead!" She laughed and jumped, preparing to throw senbon at her old teacher.

 _Now he should..._

His tongue shot out, gapping her hand and forcing her to drop the needles. She landed, gapping his tongue and sent snake's out her sleeve and they bit into it. She pulled with all her strength, sending him flying out from the tree and crashing into another.

He retracted his tongue, bursting from the tree, making it fall over. He smashed his fist into her stomach. Anko gasped, stealing her abdomen with chakra and forcefully pinned his feet to the branch with a few poisoned kunai. "You're going to die today." She promised and saw Orochimaru's confident facade slip slightly as Rukia's chakra signature neared them. His arms shivered, his back hunched over, his hair was a mess, his eyes had large bags hanging under them.

His body was frozen, not following his own commands, his mind was clouded over and he didn't really register when Rukia arrived.

Rukia landed behind Anko and stepped around her, punching Orochimaru right in his nose. It bend unnaturally, bleeding badly. "That's for putting that seal on _my_ student," She followed up with a punch to the jaw, "That's for being a shitty teacher," she punched him again and his eyes narrowed, "That's for experimenting on children," he received yet another punch and Orochimaru was able to move his arms slightly, his mind clearing up from the small episode, "That's for everything else," Rukia panted for a second and punched him in the cheek, "That's because I could."

Anko smirked at his beat up face, wanting to get with the fun as well, she punched him but immediately screamed as the cursed seal on her neck activated. Pain flooded her body and she fell to her knees desperately grasping at the mark.

"Anko!" Rukia rushed to help her, not seeing how Orochimaru slowly lifted his foot through the kunai, leaving a hole through the flesh.

Anko slapped her hand away angrily, Rukia didn't have time to worry about her. Anko wouldn't be able to fight but Rukia could still take him down for her. "No! stop him! He's going to get away!" her voice was already coarse. _Damn Orochimaru, of course he'd make me weak against him!_

"Your student is quite the perfect vessel," Orochimaru said slowly to drag out the time, gathering his sloppy chakra to prepare his escape. But the chakra resisted, falling limp. "I can see why someone so… uninteresting would want someone who's going to become famous as her student. It's really too bad he's going to become the medium in my immortality.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Then it's too bad he's such an independent kid!" Rukia shouted and gathered her chakra in her stomach, heat spread and fire blazed. She inhaled and blew out a stream of fire that spread out horizontally with a wave.

Orochimaru jumped up a branch and stared at the jutsu when it formed at wide winged bird. It curved up, and turned around after him, forcing him to move again as it followed. He had never seen that jutsu before. He wondered about how a medical nin got an advanced fire jutsu like the one that was chasing him. Regardless of the details behind it, he wanted it.

Orochimaru chuckled and shot his tongue out, grabbing Anko around her waist. He pulled her up into the incoming fire and smirked when Rukia was forced to cancel it. Canceling a fire jutsu mid attack was hard and the strain on her chakra would be great. He chucked, the strain was clear in her movements as she jumped to catch her deadweight friend.

Injured comrades always got in the way, he'd tried teaching Anko that. It was really too bad she was so weak minded, she had talent once.

The distraction was also his signal to get away, so he gathered up his chakra and was suddenly taken by a sharp pain from where he grabbed it. It spread out his whole body like an infestation and his mind drew a blank. He wasn't sure how long he was out.

"It's not nice, is it?" Rukia stood in front of him, staring down at his collapsed form in triumph.

He tried to get up, but his limbs failed him and he blanked out again, his mind swirling. He shook his head in repulsion. "What did you do to me woman!?"

Rukia barked with amusement. "It's not what _I_ did. It's what made _my_ student your downfall."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his mind dulling and drew the connection in a time that was too long and slowly raised his violently shaking arm to look at the small burn. "The black chakra…"

"Yeah," Rukia agreed easily with a nod, "it was a waiting game you were _destined_ to lose."

A senbon flew through the air and slipped between his ribs, it did not hit anything important. They wanted him alive. "Take that you bastard!" Anko grinned savagely as she limped over to him and kicked him in the face. He was knocked unconscious.

* * *

Chapter 24: The tower

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

Reviews are inspiration -Kenjo out!


	24. Chapter 24: The tower

_I don't own Naruto._

* * *

 **Chapter 24: The tower**

* * *

If someone asked Sasuke what he had done the last two days, he would have told them he had ate some weird mushrooms, passed out, and couldn't remember anything.

If someone asked one of the genin he had been together with, they would get the same story, just with a few more details. They'd tell of how Sasuke had woken a few hours before they reached the middle tower, stoned of his ass. Maybe not as bluntly, but they would suggest the same thing.

They would then proceed to say that he had come close to eating Naruto's fingers, thinking that they were worms.

Why Sasuke wanted to eat worms was something none of them could explain and Sasuke had refused to tell.

If they asked the security of the tower they would say that the boy had run amok trying to find a bath and dodge the medical assistance his odd pose and the leaking blood suggested he needed. Shelves had been pushed down, doors had oddly fist sized holes in them. the red haired genin from sand had gone into hiding because Sasuke had constantly tried hugging the boy to the point where Gaara looked more traumatized than ever.

He had been out of control for around one day until Kakashi had finally caught him by his collar as he was attempting to ambushing Gaara for a hug. The jounin had then strapped him down so he could get medical assistance. They'd kept him there until the craze was out of his system.

The reason _why_ he'd been like that was unknown, but Sasuke was sure Mister Shadow had something to do with it. The cursed seal had completely disappeared the same day as his mind stopped following every little impulse it had, so Sasuke thought it was a good connection.

He did feel kinda bad for Orochimaru though, the man took all those risks to get him. Only to be captured and have his seal fail miserably.

which brought him to his current situation of mockery.

"No- stop it!" Sasuke snapped lightly, unable to get really angry as Naruto poked him besides his mouth.

Naruto batted his eyelashes and whispered. "Are you sure you don't want to eat some worms? I have personally gathered them, just for you.

"I-I helped." Hinata said, her face bright red as she shoved the box of wiggling worms further away from herself before returning to her food.

"Ha ha," Sasuke muttered dryly and leaned his head back to watch the group of genin behind him eat, "I really love you guys, you know just how to be the perfect pair of assholes."

Naruto picked up the box of worms and jabbed it to Sasuke's chest. Some of the worms rolled around, wiggling. "Eat it." he insisted with a devious look.

"I will tie you up in the most embarrassing and kinky way and leave you for people to laugh at." Sasuke said and tugged at one of the many small braids he had made in Naruto's hair the past hours of sane thoughts. Naruto winced, his body tilting sideways and Sasuke grinned.

"No you won't!" Naruto said and pushed Sasuke's hand away from his hair. He poked Sasuke with the box again and rubbed the sore spot on his scalp, "You need me close because kakashi-sensei said so, and because you're afraid of wanting to eat worms again." He sang the last part in a perfectly hideous tone.

Sasuke shows his displeasure with a flash of sharingan eyes, "You jabbing that worm box at me doesn't really inspire trust." he looked away made eye contact with Gaara. The red haired boy froze as his eyes darkened and sand began moving worriedly around in the air by his head. Sasuke blinked Gaara's eyes widened as he hurried to look down at his own food, away from Sasuke.

"Stop harassing the poor boy." Hinata threw a chopstick at Sasuke which bounced back from his forehead perfectly for her to grab again. She swirled the wood masterly and swept her food up.

Yuuka sat down besides Hinata with her own food and looked at the worms, a brief look of disgust crossing her face. She then looked at Sasuke's sour face and grinned with delight. "We're harassing Sasuke?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied and waved his still bandaged up arm, "We're having _so much fun_ bullying poor defenceless Sasuke. It's really our biggest dream ever, being mean is such a blast. _Yay_."

"I almost miss being back home where I can't hear you talk." Aimi told them as he stopped by their table and dropped his food down beside Sasuke. He pulled a chair back and slumped down in the seat. His teammates and Sakura followed behind and filled the remaining spaces at the table.

"I hope you get to fight that teleporting sound guy," Sasuke slid Aimi's food away from the boy, ignoring his growl, "I saw them walking around… which mean someone is probably going to fight that guy. I'm also 97% sure he's high chunin."

Naruto blinked, " _They passed!?"_ he squeaked and a shudder hand down his back at the memory.

Hinata frowned and her byakugan activated looking around. "No one turn around." Hinata said sharply in a whisper, her head looking away from what she saw. Naruto turned in his chair to look and paled.

The three sound genin were staring at their table as Naruto watched them, a smirk spread out over Leonard's face.

Hinata who had a clear view of the trio slapped herself in the face.

* * *

Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly before raising his fist and finally knocking on the door. Sounds of hurried feet and papers being ruffled around made him raise his eyebrows in amusement. Someone was hiding something or sleeping on or under papers.

The door finally clicked and Temari's face stuck out and froze in surprise when she noticed just who was visiting them. "What do you want?" She demanded. Her jounin was behind her head, his eyes searched Sasuke, looking around his neck.

"I'm sorry for these past days…" Sasuke apologised carefully, he was not fidgeting, "I wasn't… myself and you and your siblings suffered from it."

"Okay." She closed the door again.

Sasuke groaned and put a hand through his hair. "Great." he turned to leave when the door opened again, this time Gaara stepped out and stared silently at Sasuke as the door closed behind him.

Sasuke quickly noticed how a small amount of sand swirled in the air around the red haired boy as if to protect him and possibly murder Sasuke. Gaara stood completely still, his fingers only twitching a few times as he stared at Sasuke with those green panda eyes.

"I do not understand." He said.

Sasuke tilted his head. "You don't ...understand?"

Gaara looked away from sasuke and when he looked back again, the impassive look was gone, replaced by maniacal _hunger_. " _Why mother want your blood so much…_ " his words turned to a hiss.

Sasuke took a small step back at the look, and winked to hide his uncertainty, suddenly aware of the frantic and worried steps from behind the door. "That must be because I'm _so_ delicious! All vampires line right up to get a taste of this tasty guy!" he pointed his thumb at himself.

Gaara took a step towards him, a maniacal grin spreading on his face and then took another, and another and Sasuke took quick surprised steps back so Gaara wouldn't enter his personal space.

Gaara took a big step, straight into Sasuke's personal space and stared at him with wide eyes that showed how he was just barely holding himself back from attacking. "... _Why can you get so close to me?"_

Sasuke shuddered and took a step back, _forget_ hugging the cutie, he would just keep a _nice long_ distance until he was sane. "I don't know." He said instead and shrugged his shoulders. Maybe he could bail if he said something strange he needed to do… like maybe he had the stove on… Maybe his cat senses told him his stove was on fire… yeah, that was a good one. "Hey Gaara- I have to go, my cat senses are telling me that there's a _really_ cute kitty just wai-"

"Touch me."

"-ing to be- _what_?" Sasuke's mouth hung open and maybe if he was lucky he'd actually be able to try having a fly fly in.

"Touch me." Gaara demanded.

Sasuke bit his lower lip and did a quick run through of his options. "...Alright." He said and didn't move.

Gaara's face twitched and Sasuke almost squeaked at the cute and confused look replacing the scary one. "Make it easier for me why don't you?" Sasuke muttered and closed his eyes, carefully putting a hand on Gaara's left shoulder.

Nothing happened.

"Phew." Sasuke breathed as he opened his eyes again to an adorably confused Gaara staring at his hand. It almost made him forget how much the boy had freaked him out a few moments earlier. Almost.

Then wild green eyes flashed at him and sand smashed Sasuke into like a foot would a ball. The wall cracked as Sasuke hit it. He groaned, feeling warm blood drip down his neck.

With one last look at Sasuke, Gaara turned and left as he muttered under his breath. The crazed air around the boy was back as his sand moved like blades, scratching gauges into the hallway. clouding the whole corridor in death.

"Thanks." Sasuke rasped, rolling his eyes as he stared dully at his bloodied hand.

 _Why are the cute ones always crazy?_

* * *

Sasuke was standing quietly in the Hokage's office, distracted by his own mind as the old man spoke.

Sasuke had been asked to stay after his team had finished the report about their encounter with Orochimaru.

The Hokage had looked worried when Sasuke had mentioned Naruto's jelly state burning him and his old eyes had betrayed worry as they had snapped over to Naruto. There was definitely something with the gel and Sasuke was pretty sure there was some big secret involved with why Naruto had an unknown bloodline.

Maybe he was from a stolen bloodline. It wasn't uncommon for adult bloodline bares would be forced to reproduce before getting executed. The child would normally be raised with loyalty to the village before their bloodline would show itself. At that point in their life only one out of ten would deflect.

"-as to stop."

Sasuke blinked. "I'm sorry what?"

The Hokage twitched, amusement and annoyance flashing on his face. "As I said, I've heard about your involvement with Elder Danzo and it has to stop."

Sasuke really wanted to flat out tell the Hokage how much he just did not care about his options, but Danzo _did_ _actually_ teach him something about not being too forward with his disapproval. (Not that he would heed the lessons all that much) "Why? What is so wrong about being trained by an elder?" he asked instead.

Hiruzen folded his fingers in front of him. "There are matters I cannot disclose to you but the last few students your age Danzo trained did not turn out… good, one of those killed his own clan."

Sasuke turned up a lip at what the Hokage did, he was obviously subtly telling him that Itachi had killed the Uchiha because of Danzo's teachings. Sasuke did not trust Danzo, but the old man had wanted to train Sasuke for a long time. If he was honest with himself, Sasuke mostly decided to train with Danzo because of curiosity and pity. "I don't see how Itachi has anything to do with me. When he was my age he was already an S rank… and I'm in the Chunin exams," Sasuke shook his head, "So I'm afraid I fail to see the similarities."

"I am worried for you Sasuke," The old man replied, dropping the usual 'kun' as his gaze darkened, "Danzo is not to be trusted. Everything he might have said or promised has been for himself, I can promise you that."

Sasuke sighed and leaned on the Hokage's desk, crossing his arms. The leader himself looked surprised at the action and studied Sasuke. "I _don't_ trust him," he told him and smiled mockingly at the Hokage, "Not that I trust _you_ either, but I can't really blame you for not trusting me, you have a village to look after. But I was curious, he really seemed to want to, so I said yes," Sasuke closed his eyes and tilted his head back, "You secured my 'loyalty' by giving me bonds inside the village and Danzo secured a way less sturdy 'loyalty' - if you were curious - by telling me how Itachi killed his family for me."

"He told you that?" The harsh words almost made Sasuke jump (He did not jump from the table in surprise) as the room vibrated with agitated chakra.

Sasuke took a deep breath as the chakra disappeared and leaned back against the table. "Yes?"

"What is your opinion." The Hokage did not say anything else but carefully studied Sasuke, as if some piece of a puzzle had finally clicked into place.

"Well I agree that telling the previous me about Itachi would have been a disaster, and if I was him then something might have snapped in him," Sasuke then added, "Kid was kinda messed up in the head after all he witnessed, maybe he'd turn out fine with time. But probably not before doing something irreversible."

Sasuke rocked back and forth. "But the way it was handled was _wrong,_ not to mention that people were being _really fucking creepy towards me and still are_. But then again, there's probably a load of stuff behind the scenes I don't know anything about."

A wrinkly hand made Sasuke stop his rocking. Sasuke looked at the Hokage behind him. "I think I have a mission for you Sasuke-kun."

* * *

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto said casually as he slid into the seat besides him, there was a slightly crumpled plastic cup in his hands.

"Hello Naruto." Sasuke replied with a decent amount of suspicion and waited for Naruto to make his move.

"Can I have a favour?"

"depends," Sasuke smirked as Naruto deflated, "What is it?"

"Umm- wow," He scratched his neck and looked away, "This is really awkward." he paused and looked at the cup to gather the strength to ask whatever he needed.

Sasuke frowned and put on a shocked face. "Have you perhaps gotten your first period!?" he said the last word loudly, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

"Damit Sasuke!" Naruto snarled and threw his cup lightly against Sasuke's head.

Sasuke grinned. "So what do you need? My eternal attention? A new braid in your hair? A hug from Gaara? Money? A hug from _me?_ My pee? My blood? my-"

"Yeah."

"-hair- what!?"

Naruto swallowed and pushed his plastic cup towards him. "I need your blood."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "My blood?" he asked doubtfully, "What are you gonna do with it? Sacrifice it to the gods? Give it to Hinata the demon as a wedding gift? Drink it? Pee in it?"

Naruto groaned. "Can I just have a cup full?"

Sasuke stared at him, his eye twitched. "No. I like my blood where it's supposed to be, in my veins."

"Please?" Naruto pouted adorably, tilting his head to the side, "For me?"

Sasuke reared back as if burned, the little demon. "That isn't gonna work!" he looked away, almost painfully as Naruto leaned in so Sasuke couldn't avoid him.

"I'll give you a storage seal made with all the chakra I can survive without crammed into it." he bargained, smiling nastily, "And I'll make a few clones to be your slaves for a week."

Sasuke frowned. "I want you to owe me a favour. One favor for another."

Naruto shoulders slumped with relief, he must really have wanted Sasuke's blood. "Thank you." his eyes twitched slightly and the corner of his mouth moved as if he was holding in a smirk.

Sasuke edged away from Naruto. "So how are we going to get my blood out?"

Naruto smiled innocently and Sasuke blanched.

* * *

The team stood in a large room and were bored. They had been guided to an arena like area with giant hands in one end making a hand seal. Observation areas was placed along the walls a few meters over the ground floor, staircases led up to this area.

Other teams stood besides them, staring up at the Jounin, Chunin and the Hokage standing in formation by the large hands.

Sasuke looked around and counted who had passed. Hinata's team had obviously passed, so had the sand, sound and cloud genin, all whom Sasuke had seen inside the tower. Of the teams Sasuke hadn't seen was team 10 from his year, Kabuto's team (without a scratch, but Kabuto was a medic so Sasuke really didn't have to guess _how_ but it _would_ paint a slightly intimidating picture if you didn't know.) and Lee's team who had passed, with Neji sending glares at both Sasuke and Hinata for entering the tower earlier than his own team.

 _Suck it ass face._

Sasuke was surprised to see so many konoha shinobi had passed compared to the three foreign teams. Maybe it was because konoha shinobi was that more advanced in forest terrains. The test was probably designed like that, to promote Konoha more.

He took a second look at Kabuto when the older medic twitched, he seemed nervous or or even _afraid_.

"First of all!" Anko's voice rang out through the entire room as she spoke into her microphone, "congratulations on passing the first test!"

Rukia stepped up besides her and smiled at the genin. "Hokage-sama will now explain the test!" She pointed at them with a too sincere facial expressions, "So listen carefully kids."

The third moved one step and looked at them gravely. "Before I explain the upcoming third test, there's something concerning the reason for this exam I would like you to know."

 _Great…_ Sasuke thought and winced, _of course there's some secret meaning to the exam._

The hokage let the information sink in and pulled his hat that signaled his position as a Kage over his eyes. "Why do we hold the exam with all the allianced countries together?" He asked them but did not wait for any of them to give their own opinions about the exam. "'To promote friendship among the counties.' 'To raise the rank of shinobi.' I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning..."

"This exam is..." A dark look in his eyes had a few genin shivering and even some of the senior shinobi stiffened just a bit, "A replacement for war."

Tenten immediately frowned at his words and voiced everyone's concern. "What does that mean?"

Sasuke winced at the Hokage's description, war was not something you forced kids to fight like that. Putting children, because most genin were just that, _children_ , up gains each other in a grand battle royale for show with their lives on the line was a great idea.

It reminded him of a movie he once saw that, but he couldn't remember it as he stood there.

Sasuke hated the shinobi system sometimes.

 _Well_.

Most times actually.

The old man smiled at her, wanting them to speak up for themselves. "Once, some time ago, the countries were enemies and they fought among each other for who would rule," He looked out over them as a shepherd would his herd, "To prevent the wasteful fighting, the countries set the stage for a new way of war. That is the origins of the chunin exams."

Ino hissed at his description and spoke, disgust in her voice as she pulled at her wet dress. "Then who do we have to do all these things? Isn't the chunin exams for selecting chunin!?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "It is true that this exam decides which shinobi has what it takes to become chunin. But on the other hand, this exam has a side where shinobi risk their lives to protect their individual countries prestige."

Ino immediately asked dubiously. "Prestige?"

"Leaders and influential people from several countries who give jobs to shinobi will be there to watch your battles. Showing off our potential chunin also warms the civilian population to the idea of shinobi," The Hokage continued gracefully, having expected a short question like that, "If the strength of a country is apparent, then that country will receive more clients and conversely if the country is seen as weak, they will lose clients."

the leader of their village paused briefly incase someone had a question. "This also signals to enemy countries that 'our village has this much power.' It sends a political message to outsiders."

Kiba growled to Sasuke's right. "Yeah! But why!? Why do we have to risk our lives in a battle!?"

Hiruzen sighed and stared hard at them, giving them no room to question him as he continued. "The strength of the country is the strength of the village, the strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi, and a shinobi's strength is born only though life risking battle."

Sasuke sighed to himself, not really bothering to listen as the Hokage continued speaking. He closed his eyes and let his mind take him away from the exam, thinking about things he'd rather spend his time on. Like Speedy or his plans for the future.

A red light for his eyes made him open his eyes again and a small flash momentarily blinded him. Sasuke blinked a few times and raised his eyebrows, not caring if he was acting strange, looking up past the Jounin in the front. There, by the hand, hiding in the shadows was one of Danzo's special ANBU.

They made a gesture and Sasuke tilted his head and nodded slightly. It seemed Danzo was going to be watching the third exam, and he wanted Sasuke to become a Chunin.

 _I can do that, I don't really want to, but I can do that._ Sasuke thought and narrowed his eyes slightly in irritation when they signed a new message to him.

 _No_ , he discreetly signed back, Danzo can talk to me himself. Sure Sasuke was training with Danzo, but he wouldn't just leave his team to join up with Danzo's boy band when he became Chunin.

The ANBU signed a new message for him to meet with Danzo after the exam.

 _Okay._ Sasuke signed and rolled his eyes, blowing hair out of his eyes as they disappeared from his sight again.

 _What is with these old men pulling at my sleeve._ Sasuke thought to himself and laughed a bit to himself.

"Sasuke!" Naruto was suddenly in his face, blue eyes narrowed as he jabbed a finger into his chest, "The preliminaries are starting, we have to go to the stands."

Sasuke blinked. "Huh?" he asked stupidly.

Sakura took a deep breath into her hand and gestured for Naruto to take Sasuke with him. Naruto complied and dragged Sasuke after him as they walked away, leaving Nami, Shikamaru, Kankuro and Tenten standing alone at the bottom of the area.

Sasuke stopped with his team and looked down where Nami and Shikamaru was whispering to each other. "So it's two on two?"

"Hayate already explained the rules Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei quipped and made a thoughtful gesture with his hand, "Unless… you didn't listen?" he asked with fake surprise and disappointment.

"They lost me at," Sasuke hunched over and posed like the Hokage, "'This exam is a replacement for war.'"

"That was the beginning." Sakura deadpanned, ignoring Sasuke's pleased expression.

Kakashi sighed, he shouldn't have expected any less from his genin. "I'll explain then…"

* * *

Chapter 25: Preliminaries.

* * *

(Story thing)

"Then I got a giant axe to the face." Sazu finished his story of how he'd arrived in Naruto's parallel dimension and twisted a stone between his fingers.

"Did you die!?" Naruto asked without thought.

They were standing in Team 7's usual meeting place, some random bridge that was in the outskirts of the village.

"Yes Naruto, I am dead." Sazu opened his mouth and let a small genjutsu cover his teeth to make his fangs look longer. "I'm a vampire now, I feed on the blood of my victims."

Naruto shrieked and stumbled away from him in shock. Sazu laughed at him and Naruto growled. "Stop laughing! You surprised me! Nothing else!"

"Sure." Sazu said and threw his stone down the small steam with enough force to create a splash big enough to just reach the bridge. He looked back up and was surprised to have his whole body shoved down on the bridge. Sazu yelped and landed on his side with a groan. "What the fuck Sasuk-" He began but said boy ripped him from the bridge by his collar and smacked his face into the railing.

"Shut up damn you." Sasuke snarled furiously at him and tried to flip him over the railing and into the water. But was instead pulled down and held with Sazu's legs wrapped around his middle.

Sazu stared down at Sasuke calmly. "I repeat, What the fuck Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared up, nursing his nose. "They think I'm you."

Sazu narrowed his eyes at the comment and stares at Sasuke's flushed face before bursting with laughter. His stomach ached and he released Sasuke. "Oh my god, what happened? Who thought-" he broke off, uncontrollable laughter and giggling overtaking him.

"He called himself Kenma."

Sazu fell silent and blew hair from his eyes as he and Sasuke stared at each other, ignoring Naruto's confused muttering that occasionally bordered on screaming. "I'm sorry," He finally said, "It's super funny but I can tell it bothers you so I apologise. I'll make sure he knows how to tell the difference next time."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and turned from him, quiet as he turned away to wait for Kakashi-sensei.

* * *

"Yeah! yeah! I overslept too!" Naruto put a fist in the air like he was excited. "So I did even wash my face or brush my teeth!"

Sazu jerked from his thoughts and almost tipped over the edge of the bridge in shock. He was forced to use the disgruntled Sasuke besides himself to stay upright on the railing.

Sakura stared a good while, her fingers twitching. "That's… nasty…" She said and Sazu found himself agreeing.

A lot

Naruto merely laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

Then Kakashi finally took the time to show up with his customary lazy attitude and book in hand. He kept it short and handed over the entrance papers for the chunin exams before (getting tackle hugged by Naruto) disappearing in a small puff of smoke.

"There's going to be loads of ass kickers in this exam," Sazu commented after a while. "I bet you're all going to die a horrible and mangled death."

Sakura made a face. "Don't be so bleak." she said with little fire in her voice, like she already felt defeated.

"Then there's going to be strong people?" Sazu tried awkwardly instead and thought about if he should say something encouraging for her.

Naruto squinted his eyes like he was picturing something. "Like that sand guy!" he said excited.

"Sand?" Sazu withdrew his attention from Sakura. "Like Gaara, Temari and that guy who wanted to eat Speedy? _Who's nose I still want to break._ "

Naruto was unbothered by his comment, "Yeah! He tried to hit Konohamaru! Luckily I was there to save the day! And then that creepy redhead showed up!"

"Like hell you were! Sasuke-kun had to step in and save your and the Hokage's grandson sorry hides!" Sakura screeched in anger, furious on Sasuke's behalf.

Sasuke didn't say more than grunt so Sazu corrected them both. "That 'creepy redhead,'" he said seriously and brought the two closer to himself. "Is the one person I've been longing to hug you know? He's adorable and actually quite handsome, even if he's probably bat shit insane."

"I worry for the world you come from," Sasuke said slowly before turning away. "Anyway, I'm going home to train."

* * *

Sazu was ambushed by a rain nin on his way to Kenma's place that day.

He had been walking peacefully, going through the nicer areas of Konoha with lush plant life and beautifully contacting trees. He always enjoyed looking at the dark trunks with the bright green and luminous background. It was nice to see that some things where the same no matter the world.

The rain shinobi had jumped from his hiding place to receive a shoe in his face. It had been quite a poor disguise for the Sharingan to dismantle in a glance.

 _Though_ , Sazu had to admit in the private area called his mind, _If I wasn't going around using the sharingan to memorise nature I'd probably have been caught…_

The rain genin fell in surprise and pain, his eyes widening as he landed in a cloud of dust. "What the hell are you doing!?" Sazu stepped on the genin and leaned down in his face. Sazu glued him to the dirt beneath him.

Sazu stared for a few seconds and blinked owlishly. The genin wiggled and Sazu put a hand on his face, dissolving the transformation around his body. The image bled away to reveal his true appearance, Iruka.

"What. The. Hell."

Iruka sighed with resignation. "You can let go of me now Sasuke." he said awkwardly as Sazu invaded his personal space.

Sazu didn't move, maybe he felt _some_ satisfaction in seeing a person who'd taught him defeated by his hand. "You know- you didn't do this in my world."

Iruka blinked and gaped like a fish, like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "Another world? Sasuke, I recognize that you've changed, but this is madness. Other worlds do simply not exist."

"Oh-" Sazu choked on his spit, "You haven't heard? Well I'm sorry but I'm a Sasuke from another world. The Sasuke you know is an emotionally damaged teen. Call me Sazu, professional medical nin and pincushion to crazy jounin, an elder and one demon child." Sazu recognised that _maybe_ it wasn't the best introduction, but it had to do.

"What?" Iruka stammered, at a loss for words.

Sazu pressed his lips together and took pity on the poor man, finally letting him go. "I can always lead you to the Sasuke you're looking for?" Sazu offered calmly. "I have a date so I'd rather we got this over with. So if I have to, I will dump your ass with Kakashi-sensei- I know where he lives."

Iruka shook his head and sat up. "No-" he paused, his eyes wide as he collected himself, "No- I'll find Sasuke myself."

Sazu stood up and patted him on the head before leaving with a wave over his shoulder. "I'll smell you later Iruka-sensei!"

* * *

Sazu sat with Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai, ignoring to two confused jounin as he did his best not to look at the screen in front of him. He twitched when the sound genin attacked Kabuto and shook his head.

"Is your world similar to ours?" Kurenai asked politely, gazing over the dimension travelers obviously tense and frustrated from.

"No." Sazu said simply and continued to sulk, he knew what was coming. _He_ was coming.

Kurenai was put off, slightly offended at the short response. "I'm curious, what are the major differences?"

Sazu sighed, giving up. "Well, Hinata's my best friend," that gave a reaction from Kurenai, she was clearly surprised. "and I dislike this world, Naruto's unprofessional, Sakura's a fan girl, I'm an asshole, Hinata is meek and afraid to speak, my medical teacher is dead and _apparently_ I'm supposed to stay here." His words came out bitterly as he shifted in his seat. The room lapsed into a tense silence and Sazu stared uncomfortably at the floor, counting all the stray strands of hair he could see.

"I apologise." Kurenai said slowly and Sazu shook his head.

"No- that was rude of me," he looked up and smiled slightly, "I'm not really happy here but it's not your fault. For _good_ differences- i guess Hinata being mid chunin in my world is a good thing, and the ramen is for some _weird incomparable reason_ better here. I'm a bit frightened by it to be honest, gives me an idea that Naruto ate so much of it that the _had_ to improve. Other than that- I don't really know." Sazu shrugged and smiled when both Kurenai and Asuma cracked a small smile.

 _Mission accomplished._

He zoned out as the Jounin began talking, more than happy to stay in his own little private headspace. He closed his eyes and laid back, resting his head on his arms and thought about how team 7 would be ruined in the chunin exams. Maybe he should have been a bit concerned considering that he'd gotten an axe in his face, but Sazu was somehow unable to. The team seven he knew was stronger than the odd dysfunctional one he'd been shoved onto, but they had their good points in naivety and sheer dumb luck.

"Ibiki-"

Sazu jerked up and threw a knife at the person who'd dare speak the name of his greatest enemy. "Silence!" he hissed and Kakashi stared at the knife between his fingers, the end was turned towards his forehead, "Do not speak of him! My greatest enemy!" Sazu growled the words, gathering his breath before letting out a long hiss. "...Doctor baldy pauses."

"Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei asked, using his name as he breathed heavily, his form shaking at the memories, "Why don't you go and plan an assassination on… Doctor bald pauses while we talk?" his face was serious despite the break he had to make to physically take in the genius of the villain's name.

Sazu nodded and left, he had plans to make and if he was caught, well Kakashi already made sure he'd take the fall. Sazu laughed with happiness.

* * *

Sazu was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to know, but rumours spread very quickly in konoha - like how _he_ had been with a guy and everyone assumed it had been their Sasuke- had spread throughout the village in an hour. So within 30 minutes of the second test and third test preliminaries ending, Sazu knew that _Orochimaru_ of the freaking Sannin had attacked other him and his team.

After trying to return home again (to warn his team) and fainting for a good few hours, Sazu went to the hospital to hopefully find Sasuke.

He found Hinata instead.

Neji was a dead man when Sazu got his claws in the little pest. Unfortunately or fortunately for Neji, the hospital staff had heard his plans of murder and called Kakashi to (forcefully) take him away. Much to the man's annoyance as he was apparently going to train Sasuke.

Sazu was tied up, laying on the hard rocks as he glared at everyone around him. "You're going to stay with Naruto, understood?" Kakashi-sensei said the words slowly like if he said something wrong Sazu would try and bite his nose off, which to the man's credit, he did.

"Yes." Sazu replied sweetly and looked up innocently, blinking a couple of times.

"Maybe you'll be satisfied with knowing that Naruto took a similar vow and that he _actually is allowed_ to fight Neji."

Sazu narrowed his eyes, it was a very obvious suggestion. "I'll take it."

"Good." Kakashi nodded at the other jounin present and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Sazu looked down himself and up at the jounin. "Care to let me out?"

* * *

Naruto concentrated carefully and stepped out onto the hot water, his foot stood still on the small waves for a second. He fell in with a pitiful splash, screaming in pain.

Sazu snorted and flicked him back into the water when he crawled out.

"Should you not train instead of disrupting Naruto's training?" Ebi-something said tightly as he watched Sazu with distaste.

"Nope," Sazu shrugged as Naruto threw him a dirty look, "Besides, I have great chakra control."

"I see." He was clearly doubtful but when Naruto screamed, something behind them caught his attention. Sazu isn't sure what happened, but one minute the Jounin was pushing his shades up and the next he was unconscious.

The man who'd taken out Naruto's teacher revealed himself to be Jiraya of the sannin, and he proclaimed himself a super pervert. Sasuke growled, stabbed the man in the leg and left in the wake of Naruto's confused screams. Like hell he'd let them make him heal his beautifully bleeding work.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 ** _So everything I had planned after the preliminaries has officially been dumped in the trashcan. I don't think I could write everything I had planned without someday waking up and just abandoning the story (Because lack of time and somewhat interest in the old plot). So I've changed everything after next chapter so instead of the three arcs I had planned we get one! yay! (Or not)_**

 ** _Because of this, some plot points I had set up will never be seen again and some cannon plots will not be seen either. But I would like to know if there's anything any of you have noticed or remembered and want included in these last chapters. Even if it only becomes a hundred words fitted in somewhere it can make sense._**

 **-Kenjo out**


	25. Chapter 25: Preliminaries

_I don't own Naruto._

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Preliminaries.**

* * *

The First match was Kankuro of the desert and Tenten vs Nami Nagisa and Shikamaru Nara. The four was still discussing strategy when Kakashi was done explaining the test for Sasuke.

The match started and Tenten swiftly threw kunai at her opponents, the kunai was at the other end of the room in an instant, either buried deeply in the wall or deflected by Nami who was the fastest to react. Kankuro followed quickly behind the kunai and spun a kick at Nami.

She bend under it and gripped the sandal of his left foot, her legs following up, wrapping around Kankuro's head and bringing him down in a graceful roll that looked very painful for the victim. Kankuro's body _cracked_ as Nami rolled up on top of him, the sound making most of the genin in the room wince.

Nami snarled something about blood and twisted Kankuro in a way that would have instantly killed him. _If_ he was Kankuro. The boy broke up, his body turning to wood as his destroyed body parts scattered over the floor.

The wrapped up bundle that had been on Kankuro's back rolled away from Nami. She snarled and jumped at it, but it was suddenly wrapped in wire and was snapped back as Tenten, pulled him back to her.

While Kankuro had been trashed by Nami, Tenten had advanced to Shikamaru. The Nara had been cut several times by a wide range of weapons, all in strategic points to slow him down. Shikamaru had deflected all weapons aimed at his vulnerable areas to the best of his abilities, leaving a mess of weapons littering the floor between him and Tenten.

When Tenten noticed her temporary teammates plight, she had turned her attention to saving him. In the time she took to save Kankuro, Tenten did not notice Shikamaru taking up one of her weapons and sneaking his Shadow towards her.

Tenten frowned as Kankuro released himself from the wrappings and took a red scroll from her pouch. She unsealed the weapons in a flurry of sealing paper, the wind rushing as weapons flew out at her opponents.

Nami nodded at Shikamaru -who winced at a cuts as he moved- and slapped her hands out, holding still for a brief second. Just before the weapons would hit them, water swirled in the air, and Tenten's kunai and various weapons was flung around, flying in all directions except where Nami and Shikamaru was standing.

Shikamaru's shadow was already out, and it swept around the weapons laying around, entrapping their shadows. Getting more power from the lack of light, Shikamaru's shadow reached forth with a vengeance and snapped up with Tenten's.

She froze with a look of dread, her hands shook with the attempt of moving.

If Kankuro noticed, he didn't say as Nami ran into his personal space, her white hair flowing behind her like a cape as she slapped a hand, fingers bend like claws, into his torso. He froze as well, paling.

Behind Nami, Shikamaru made the hand seal for his Shadow possession and his Shadow darted out, darkening. It flung around Nami and grabbed a tight hold on Kankuro's shadow, freezing both enemy genin.

"Surrender," Nami said and picked up a few kunai, twirling them briefly to check the balance. She glanced back at Shikamaru who was beginning to look quite exhausted, "I'm free to attack the two of you as I want."

Tenten frowned, her jaw tensing as she bit out. "We surrender."

The moment she surrendered, Shikamaru let off his jutsu and he as well as his opponents crumbled. He let out a long breath as medic nin entered to area to heal him.

"Thank you." The girl from Cloud said and nodded with respect as Tenten began walking back to her teammates.

"Don't think I will play bait again," Shikamaru groaned and winced at his cuts when he dragged a hand down his face as he looked over at Kankuro who was busy collecting his puppet parts. "How troublesome…"

* * *

The screen flashed through names before finally freezing on the next match.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly and gazed over at Temari, he nodded when she narrowed her eyes before looking back to the screen. Temari of the deserted and Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka and Yoroi Akado.

Naruto growled with anger, Kiba deserved Chunin. But Naruto was going to be the winner and with the sand lady on his side they didn't stand a chance.

Sasuke caught his hand as he was about to go, there was something about his friend's expression Naruto didn't recognise. "I have a bad feeling about this match."

Naruto grinned reassuringly. "Sasuke, relax! You're looking at the future Hokage! I'll be fine!"

Sasuke smiled. "Okay. It's just that I get this weird feeling when I look at you. During the whole exam, it's like something is about to happen." He shook his head and grinned wryly, letting go of his arm. "It's probably nothing. Forget my mad ramblings."

"Hey," Naruto patted Sasuke on his shoulder, "You're not silly, I'll be extra careful for you. Okay?"

Sasuke nodded. "Okay."

Naruto smiled confidently and jumped over the ledge, so getting down in the arena was a quick business. Soon Temari and he had finalised their strategy and the match was on.

The first part of the plan was simple enough and Naruto made a dozen clones as Kiba and Akamaru's bodies _blurred_ into something looking like his wind tornado jutsu. The tornado flew through the arena and though a few of his clones. In the few seconds it had taken Kiba to destroy half of their plan 1a (Temari did not leave him much room for plan names, he wanted 'Super clone trapping of doom'), Temari had gotten her fan ready and blasted Kiba, a clone or two and Yoroi-something away.

His seven unaffected clones snug a different seals to the floor in a half circle. They all flipped their hands through hand seals and gripped a wind dagger with their right hand.

Kiba rolled into a crouch as the wind stopped, there was narrow cuts over his body and he called shortly for Akamaru before looking over at Yoroi-something. The clones saw their opening and rushed at him, but Kiba's nose was quicker than them and they only attacked to be destroyed.

Naruto face palmed. He needed to practice with clone orders, if they were too specific then the clone wouldn't really be able to do much else. But if they were too vague the clone could go rouge.

One had tried to kill him once.

Temari readied her fan again and Naruto swept up to her side and as she bought her fan down he sent out his own chakra and amplified the effect of her attack. The two and Akamaru was slammed into the wall opposite of them.

Only Kiba and Akamaru came out conscious and the two immediately jumped from yet another wind attack. He was quickly up close to them and this thick nails swiped at Temari's face. She brought her fan up and sparks flew from the contact, making small gouges in the framework. Akamaru's jaw bit down around her ankle as she defended herself.

Naruto grabbed Kiba's leg and swung him around and away, pulling his body down into the floor. Kiba gasped with pain and clawed at Naruto's hands, blood poured from his wrists as he swung Kiba again. His hand slipped on the blood and Kiba went through the air instead of landing face first in the ground. Akamaru abandoned his fight with Temari and ran over to Kiba's side.

Temari flinched, her left ankle biting with pain as she adjusted her stance to swing her fan through the air. Kiba pushed from the ground and he and Akamaru evaded the blast of wind.

Naruto crossed his fingers, his wrist was already healed and several clones popped to life. The clones scattered and formed a 'C' around Kiba. They made hand seals and the air moved in front of them. Kiba spun into a deadly tornado and crashed into an invisible shield. Temari grinned and slashed her fan though the air as if she was ripping open someone's insides. The wind blast ripped through a few clones and cut into Kiba's arms he held up in defence, standing his ground as he protected Akamaru behind him.

Kiba looked around, his nerve colouring the air around him thickly. Naruto almost felt bad.

Temari readied her fan as Kiba tried to escape the half circle of wind shields. Naruto was invaded by memories of Kiba from a different perspective and Kiba's spinning form rushed from the opening and around the clones. The clones popped one after the other as Kiba plowed through them like a knife through butter.

Yoroi-something swiped his hand over one of the clones and it popped, the chakra cloud surging to his palm. Absorbed. A thin yellow glow emitted from his body and the small cuts littering his body healed up in time to be replaced with new ones.

Temari swung her fan, not giving Yoroi time to marvel over Naruto's healing chakra. Kiba dodged but his passing fang technique was slower than before so Naruto was able to follow it better.

Akamaru stopped out of reach of the wind blast but stumbled onto a seal hidden between two tiles in the floor. Electricity ran up the small puppy's body and his white fur stood straight up. Akamaru passed out.

Temari swiftly ran to the left while Naruto took the right side. She placed down seals as she went around, completing the large seal matrix.

"Akamaru!" Kiba growled loudly with anger and ran for his partner. Yoroi stopped him placing a hand on his shoulder and the cuts on Kiba's body also healed up slowly. The yellow glow faded and Kiba stopped in surprise.

Naruto looked over to Temari and she nodded, a wicked smirk on her lips. He crouched down and activated the seals, yellow chakra pulled from the seal he was touching and connected to the next. And the next. And the next. when all the seals had connected a bouble formed around Kiba and Yoroi. It took a few seconds for the seals to activate and their opponents didn't have the time to react in time, getting trapped.

Naruto won.

* * *

 _Aimi is going to die._ That was the first thought that ran through Sasuke's mind when he saw the match ups. Aimi was _strong_ but Leonard had cheats.

 _Big ugly cheats._

He sent a silent prayer to whatever gods ruled in Konoha.

The match started normally enough in Sasuke's opinion. Aimi send an odd looking ball of fire towards Leonard who dodged and parried the katana in Aimi's hand with his axe before it could cut his head off. Leonard returned an attack by teleporting behind Aimi and swinging the fancy axe wide. Aimi spun and raised both of his katana to save himself from being cleaved in two. He was pushed back, losing his footing from the weight pressing against him.

Pulling his left sword from the axe Aimi bend back under the axe as he stopped pressing against it. He swung his sword up and Leonard moved quick as light, deflecting it to the side.

The axe flipped and as Leonard jumped back he flicked the axe up. It smashed into the roof sending dust down as it stayed firmly in place.

Aimi's two katana caught on fire after a brief jutsu. He swung them around, putting his whole body into it as Leonard disappeared again. The sound shinobi had teleported behind Aimi again, he threw his arms up as Aimi's swords cut towards him. He growled at the burning cuts on his arms and kicked out, his sandal ramming into Aimi's gut.

They fought like that for a good minute as Aimi was lead towards where the axe was sticking out from the roof. Leonard teleported to his axe and ripped it loose, letting it fall. It fell down quickly. The cloud genin shouted for Aimi.

Aimi turned quickly to find what had brought his teammates to actually shout in his match, his swords were held up in front of him defensively. The axe slammed down a good hairs breath from Aimi's toes, cutting through the steel of his left blade. Aimi screamed in surprise and jerked back as Leonard landed besides his axe. He flipped it from the floor and swung it vertically. Blood flew as Aimi's abdomen was cut open. Leonard changed his grip on the axe and swung it again, aiming for the kill. "Give up!" he shouted as the axe came dangerously close to Aimi, leaving no time for Aimi to answer.

A second later jounin and medics swarmed the arena, pulling Leonard from Aimi as the axe left yet another trail of red. Painting the floors with his blood.

* * *

The next match was Lee and Gaara vs that bandaged sound genin Dousu and Shino, Sasuke could already see it becoming a disaster.

Sasuke looked up at Gaara as he walked past him, the killing intent was potent in the air around him. "Hey, Gaara," He whispered and Gaara turned to look at him with confused tilt of his head. Sasuke gave thumbs up, "Break a leg." he said and immediately regretted it when he saw Temari's horrified look as Gaara gave him a savage grin in response.

 _That was probably the wrong thing to say._ Sasuke winced at his own _really_ poor choice of words.

The genin gathered (Lee jumped off the viewing area and made a large circle of cracks in the floor)

The fight had started out quick and brutal. Sasuke wasn't sure how long the match took, but almost immediately after it started, it had ended, like cooking compared to eating. Cooking could take hours while eating minutes.

Probably not wanting to waste any time before breaking someone's legs, Gaara had gone on the offensive immediately with a manic smile on his lips. His sand had rushed forth, like a waterfall, to cover the entire arena. It had then rushed up all three genin before they could escape to squeeze them. Even Lee, who was Gaara's ally in the exam had been unprepared for an attack and was also wrapped up in sand. The sand squeezed tightly and Dousu Screamed as blood began leaking from the sand around him..

Wind blew past near Sasuke as the present Jounin jumped down and pulled the three from the sand. They landed on the viewing area opposite of Sasuke, letting everyone who looked see them. Dousu from sound had his arms twisted and deformed with blood smeared all over him, making it almost impossible to see if more of him was damaged. Lee looked decent despite the bend arm he had. Shino on the other hand could not stand, he'd fallen immediately, his legs looking like the mess that was dousu's arms.

Sasuke was distantly aware that shino would probably never walk again.

* * *

The screen stopped spinning though names and as it stopped, Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked over at his best friend. Her eyes narrowed in determination as they caught his. She nodded confidently and headed for the stairs as their names were announced.

"Kin Tsuchi, Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga and G, please come down."

Sasuke looked over at Neji as his expression changed to anticipation. He might claim to respect the main house of his clan but Sasuke knew he wanted all the chances he could to make them suffer.

Sasuke couldn't really fault him for that.

He would however want to kick him in the balls for his treatment of Hinata.

The fight started out decently enough, both sides, G drew his katana and circled around to stand on Hinata's left. Neji rushed forth, palms flat and at the ready, he was accompanied by senbon at his sides. The senbon made a slight noise as they punctured the walls on the opposite side.

Hinata and G nodded and the boy leaped to the side as Neji engaged Hinata in taijutsu. They stood equally parrying blows and blocking with bursts of Chakra. Hinata bend under an attack and quickly used her feet to block a chakra pathway in Neji's thigh. Her cousin growled and upped his speed, forcing Hinata into a defencive position.

Neji opened his mouth, snarling as Hinata pushed his hand from connecting with er shoulder. "You should just give up, destiny has determined you to lose this fight."

"Too bad I'm stubborn." Hinata twisted away from him and turned her palm for his elbow. Neji slapped her hand away and blocked a tenketsu in her arm.

"You're weak." He smirked with satisfaction.

Hinata rolled her eyes and her fingers twitched into claws as they caught on fire before curling into fists. Her eyes flashed and she leaped into his defence, smashing her fist into his gut. He skidded back, his feet dragging on the floor as he finally came to a stop.

He snarled, as he saw the burned mark on his stomach, his skin was slightly singed. "You even sully yourself with those inadequate jutsu, where did you learn them? Did that weak Uchiha teach them to you?"

Hinata rolled her eyes and engaged her cousin head on.

On the other side of the battle, G was redirecting the senbon sent at him. The bells attached to the ends dinged loudly as they were thrown all around him. A senbon flew past his guard and stabbed into his collarbone.

He stopped moving, a genjutsu taking hold around him. G wobbled on his feet and the sound kunoichi smirked as his eyes glazed over. She casually threw a senbon at him, ripping up a long gash in his neck. Blood flowed out at a dangerous rate and his face began paling.

Hinata quickly noticed and with a final fire punch to Neji's face, she leaped over and shocked G out from the genjutsu with a burst of chakra. She grabbed him and pushed away from their position to move away from the incoming senbon.

Hinata hurried to create a clone and while it deflected all senbon Hinata unpacked her med kit and wrapped up G's neck in bandage. "Can you fight?"

G blinked as if in a daze, he shook his head harshly to shake the last of his confusion and nodded, standing up. "Yeah." Hinata nodded slightly and rushed away to meet Neji as he finished off her clone.

G rubbed his neck picking his sword from the floor and turning it over into the path of a silent senbon.

Swinging his katana into reverse grip, he made an odd clumsy hand seal with his hands. Lightning formed and travelled down his sword to the end where he flicked the charge at the sound genin. She dodged and tugged on her left arm, pulling one of the many senbon from the wall and and stabbing it into G's lower back.

He sheathed his sword and ripped out the senbon, pulling her down flat on the floor. Making a few hand seals, G had lightning travel down the wire and she was shocked into unconsciousness.

With his opponent defeated, G rushed at Neji when a slight crack showed itself in his defences. As he neared, Neji disengaged from Hinata and spun, creating a dome of chakra around him. Both G and Hinata was caught up in the attack and was flung from Neji and into the walls on each side of him, creating cracks at the impact.

G screamed as the senbon which had already been in the walls was shot into his body at impact. He passed out, four senbon hitting him in non vital places and one in his hip, grazing bone.

Hinata was sticking herself to her wall and after a few hand seals she spit a collection of small fire birds at Neji, he jumped to the side, avoiding her attack.

Neji sneered at the jutsu when it flew past him. "You're using Uchiha Jutsu now? How distasteful."

Hinata turned up a lip and launched herself from the wall, directly at Neji as her foot began crackling with electricity. She kicked him in his head before he could defend himself, her speed catching him off guard. With a cry of "Thunder kick!" from Hinata, Neji fell, his head smashing to the floor as he was knocked out.

* * *

The names in the machine spun, stopping on four names that froze the room with tension.

Sasuke Uchiha and Misumi Tsurugi vs Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno.

* * *

 _Next Chapter: Sasuke vs Sakura_

* * *

Author's note.

Not happy about this chapter, but I'll live.


	26. Chapter 26: Sasuke vs Sakura

**Chapter 26: Sasuke vs. Sakura**

* * *

Sakura was left standing frozen in dread, she looked at the screen twice, hoping that it would change. Buy it stayed the same, clearly stating; Sasuke Uchiha and Misumi Tsurugi vs Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno.

It was like the words were mocking her, jumping out to slap her with its unfairness.

 _ **What the hell,**_ Yuuka growled in her mind, _**isn't the matches supposed to be rigged or something!?**_

 _They aren't._ Sakura replied solemn, but it had been decades since teammates were pit against each other. And that was why everyone was freaking out.

"Misumi Tsurugi, Uchiha Sasuke, Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno, please come down." The procter commanded as he finally found his voice.

Sakura clenched her jaw and looked down at Sasuke, he was looking curiously at her with his damn eyebrow raised. She ignored Naruto's angry voice from her left as she made her way down to the stairs, each step was like walking on sharp blades, made only for suffering.

"Don't you dare give up without trying." Was the first she said once they were all gathered, green eyes meeting black.

"Alright I-" Sasuke agreed.

"No-" Sakura interrupted harshly, "Promise that you won't hold back- that you will do your absolute best."

Sasuke nodded once. "I promise, if you promise to do so as well." He did not want to fight her. But she needed him to do his best, so she could do everything in her power to win without feeling any form for failure, even if he won. To feel like she deserved Chunin rank.

He looked up and Sakura followed his gaze to Hinata, Sasuke nodded and she did to, winking.

 _ **What was that about?**_

 _I have no idea._

As with the other matches, each small team was allowed exactly two minutes to make up a strategy.

"This is stupid." Naruto growled from the sidelines.

"It is not youthful at all." Lee said soberly.

Kakashi put a gloved hand on Naruto's head. "I know." he said sadly. But there was nothing they could do to change the line up.

"Sasuke looks frustrated with Misumi Tsurugi." Hinata observed quietly, her friend seemed to be trying to convince the older boy something, and if her lip reading was correct then it was something about a tuna fish, Sasuke's friend Kabuto and volcanoes.

...She was probably reading his lips wrongly.

"Time's up." Hayate told the four combatants and they took their place, staring at the genin opposite of themselves.

Sasuke's fingers twitched and he looked over at the boy on his makeshift team, hoping that he would change his mind.

He was ignored and Sasuke sighed, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked up over Sakura and Chouji. _Of course I get the biggest asshole of a teammate there is… And Gaara even tried to kill everyone in the arena… at least Gaara's cute._

The proctor held up his hand, ready to start the match. In a second his hand was down, and with a call of "Start!" Sasuke's temporary teammate had left him.

It was a pitiful defeat, even with Sasuke trying to save him. He had not reached very far before Sakura had an arrow nocked and released, it was a soft arrow, meant for situations like those. Sasuke tried to get to the idiot in time but he was knocked out in seconds, the flat head hitting him with precision. Sasuke was attacked by Chouji then, his large fists making it hard for Sasuke to get close.

Even if the other boy had _somehow_ been able to defeat both Sakura and Chouji, he wouldn't have been upgraded to Chunin anyway. He seemed to lack some crucial qualities for the rank, like humbleness and teamwork and corporation and listening. Maybe he was deaf.

So Sasuke was alone with Sakura and Chouji, and if he was lucky, then Sakura had decided to keep Yuuka out of the match for a surprise advantage in the next fights.

Sasuke retreated, moving back, out of Chouji's reach and dodged an arrow. He moved himself behind Choji, hidden from Sakura. He cut off her sight and placed the first wide area genjutsu. Sasuke hissed, the remnants of the cursed seal on his neck making his chakra burn at the command.

Then Choji was in his face with an enlarged hand. Sasuke dodged urgently, making hand seals. Fire creeped up his hands. The fire moved from his palm, creating the elemental daggers everyone on his team possessed.

Because everyone on his team was awesome and because it was was a fairly easy jutsu. It continued to lengthen in one hand until Sasuke was holding both a dagger and a sword.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, focusing on the sword in Sasuke's hand with bewilderment, "When did he learn that?"

Kakashi's eye smiled. "I think Sasuke came up with that one on his own. Sasuke does posses the best chakra control of the team, with Sakura right on his heel and you miles away."

Naruto grunted. "Thanks." Naruto frowned at the fire, his eyes trailing down to Sasuke's slightly charred hand. The jutsu was burning him. "It's not stable."

On the ground, Sasuke attacked, carefully keeping himself out of Sakura's sight at all times. Sasuke swung around, the sword and dagger burning small gashes in Choji's hands and arms, nothing too serious but enough to slow him down. Choji panicked and stumbled back, afraid of the fire burning him and unused to dangerous situations.

Sasuke's red eyes met Choji's eyes just for a second. They spun and the boy froze, trapped in a simple multi layered genjutsu. Sasuke's eyes picked up movement and flashed to the right. He rolled himself down over the floor when Yuuka came charging over him with a fire dagger of her own. Sasuke grimaced and smacked his hand on the floor, the dagger in his hand disappearing. The tiles shook a bit before shooting several bumps of earth up from the ground. They went unnoticed by Yuuka as his first Genjutsu rendered them invisible to her sight. Yuuka attacked again and Sasuke only narrowly dodged an arrow aimed at his left shoulder.

Up with the audience Ino frowned. "When did Sakura get enough chakra to make solid clones?"

Naruto looked at the blonde girl, Ino was Sakura's old rival for Sasuke's affections if he remembered correctly. Her emotions definitely told him as much. "She's the brain of our team."

He didn't elaborate further and Ino looked at him with annoyance, not expecting the cryptic reply.

Ino narrowed her eyes at the clone. _But the clone is different, it's dressed differently and it has more muscles…_ _What kind of jutsu did Sakura make? All we saw was smoke and then suddenly the clone was there. No hand seals, no nothing, only her holding out her hand._

Down in the arena Yuuka came at Sasuke with her dagger sweeping at him in wide slashes. Her form wasn't the best and Sasuke easily parried, sending her tumbling back from his long reach. She sneered, canceled the dagger and clenched her hand into a fist packed tightly with chakra. She hit air, the chakra released itself with from her fist with a burst and created a shock wave that cracked the wall behind him.

" _Holy shit!"_ Sasuke exclaimed. That fist could have _killed_ him if she'd hit and judging by the look Sakura was giving them she hadn't known just how much power Yuuka had packed into the attack.

She moved to gut him with her other hand and Sasuke swept her legs out under her before she could. He channeled chakra and kicked her in the stomach as she went down. Her jaw was clenched in an attempt not to make a noise of pain as she shifted to soften her landing.

Sakura gasped a good few meters away and bend over her stomach. She took a deep breath and raised her bow. She aimed and fired.

Sasuke's Sharingan flashed up, noticing the arrow headed his way and he cut into its trajectory, slashing into the wood with his elongated fire dagger. It burned up in a few seconds.

Yuuka had taken the time of his distraction to pull Chouji back out of the genjutsu holding him frozen in his mind.

"You couldn't have waited two seconds!?" Sasuke couldn't help the shout as Yuuka came at him as Chouji retreated a bit.

He was taking out Choji and making it a fairer fight. It would not be _pretty_.

Yuuka whispered something, making hand seals as Sakura unsealed a pair of water bottles. The plastic holding in the liquid exploded. The water surged and formed into five small dolphins that blasted away though the air. Sasuke quickly cut down three of them before the water element overtook the fire and his sword gave out. The remaining two dolphins slammed into him and Sasuke staggered back on the wet floor. An arrow whizzed by and landed in the water, a seal Sasuke had helped make was carefully drawn on the wood. Sasuke ran for the hills and the thin water pool erupted in electricity, discharge flung up and made a bright display of power. If Sasuke wasn't sure that they were trying to kill him he was now.

"You're all ass faces!" Something ruder was on his lips but it was the only thing that could get out. He body flickered around the water of death and pushed Choji back a small bit with a kick to his side.

Choji startled and rushed around to gather his surroundings, his fists grew. Sasuke dodged left as yet another arrow came at him and backed up slowly as he tried to dodge Choji's fist. He had definitely _not_ been hit twice. Yuuka joined in quickly, never hitting him. Thank the gods.

Then Choji fell flat on his face the small invisible earth formation at his feet standing proudly, having tripped him. Sasuke's hands glowed green and he kicked Yuuka roughly away from him and his prey. Sasuke hurried down and placed his palm on Choji's head, medically inducing unconsciousness.

Sasuke breathed in deeply, his breath coming out on the ragged side.

"What the hell are you feeding those kids, Kakashi?" Asuma asked, his tone harsher than he had intended. He had not expected Chouji to go down that fast, Sasuke had moved faster than any genin should have been able to.

It was unnerving how many genin was that good.

"Maaa… I'm not feeding them anything besides sweets," Kakashi smiled and watched carefully, his Sharingan recording the fight for later. When he could torture them with all the stupid decisions they made, "They were simply punished for being cheeky and somehow made training from it."

Gai shouted something about youth and Kakashi tuned out the outside world, focusing on the fight.

* * *

Sasuke leaned his head to the side as Yuuka's kunai sliced through the air, it cracked the wall behind him. Sasuke narrowed his red eyes as he looked over at Yuuka and slowly blinked. Sasuke flashed his eyes away from his opponents for just a brief second. One of Danzo's ANBU nodded at him before blending in with the shadows.

"That could have killed me." Sasuke stated dryly as Yuuka whipped out a kunai in each hand, giving them a spin to adjudge the grip. They were at a standstill.

Sakura laughed slightly, humorless as she aimed her bow at him. "Don't act like you couldn't have dodged that kind of speed without the Sharingan."

She fired and Sasuke snapped his hand up, catching the arrow at arm's length, the arrowhead pointing to his heart. "That's not going to work, you know that." Sasuke said slowly and twirled the arrow, setting it on fire with a spark of chakra.

 _God, if that had been faster._ Sasuke shuddered at the thought. He'd been _dead_. Not metaphorically dead, but literally _dead_ , arrow in his heart _dead_.

Sakura pulled a frustrated face at the destruction of her arrow and Sasuke smiled pleasantly, tilting his head at them, carefully watching them. He wanted them to move first and they knew it.

Yuuka was the first to rush in and Sasuke made a sound of slight surprise, her gloved fists clenched and shimmering with chakra as it flew past his ear. Sasuke grabbed the arm and pulled her away from him and used his weight and gravity to force her down.

Sasuke's mouth flew before he could stop himself, antagonising his teammate, "Now that was kinda pathetic Yuuka," He was above her in a second stepping on her back. Sasuke pulled chakra to his foot and manipulated it around her clothes, sticking it to the ground, "You know how I fight."

Sasuke winced at her furious look she sent his way as she tried to pull herself from the floor. But she was stuck, his chakra had glued her fast to the floor.

His leg flared with a sharp burning pain. "Ahg!" Sasuke screamed in agony.

An arrow had hit him in his leg and Sasuke pushed away from Yuuka in shock, he slipped under another arrow and used Chouji as a meat shield.

He gritted his teeth and ripped the arrow out as it began electrocuting him. It tore his flesh and he placed a quick hand on it hastily closing the wound in a few seconds. It was a hasty regeneration and would leave an ugly scar he'd have to fix over a long period of healing.

Why couldn't he have Naruto's cheaty super regeneration?

He heard the familiar twang of an arrow being fired and Sasuke swept around and snatched another arrow from the air by instinct. Yuuka made a small sound of triumph and Sasuke's eyes widened as he finally noticed what kind of arrow it was.

" _Shi-"_ He moved to hurl the projectile away but it had already activated before he could complete his thoughts. Electricity discharged from the seals engraved on the wood and traveled painfully up his arms. Sasuke gasped and stumbled across the room, using his chakra affinity in a desperate attempt of stopping the paralysis.

Sasuke heard another twang and stumbled a bit as he dodged the arrow. "I actually got your arms." Sakura said as she looked at him, his arms were hanging limply by his sides, paralysed.

"Yeah, thanks for that." Sasuke muttered and used the slight pause in their fight to enhance his legs. He ran up to Sakura in a second and rammed his knee into her stomach, aiming for a spot that would guarantee that she wouldn't bleed. He did not need Yuuka escaping by going through Sakura.

She gasped, faltering and Sasuke used his momentum to take another swipe at her. He pulled her legs up under her and she fell down. She rolled with the gravity and put her hand up to her mouth, biting down in the skin between her thumb and forefinger. Blood dripped down her chin as she came to a crouch.

Sasuke growled in frustration and jumped back as the blood morphed, exploding into chakra. Sakura could have done two things, either summon an animal or Yuuka.

She chose the later, probably saving her summoning animal for the third test if she won. Yuuka rushed at him, furious, but with a blush covering almost her entire face.

Sasuke almost laughed when he saw that her clothes were ripped in the front, the cloth was hanging by her legs. She had tried to get up from the floor, ripping her clothes in the process. But she _was_ furious and Sasuke would have to be a fool not to fear her wrath.

Sasuke put his foot up as she attacked and caught her fist with the sole of his boots. He used his chakra to absorb the energy released by her fist and they were both launched back a short distance. Sasuke groaned and hobbled on his left leg. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra into his arms to remove the paralysis.

"Can't I just give up?" Sasuke moaned as his arms flared with pain and followed up with a whine. Yuuka just growled in response and continued her attack. He jumped back from her fist, dodging instead of blocking. He stumbled on his bad leg and fell, Yuuka made a noise and forcefully froze as not to fall over his legs. Sasuke squeaked in shock and froze when an arrow landed besides his head. The arrow only a few centimeters away from his eyes. Sasuke yelped in an undignified manner and rolled away, spreading out a large amount of unnoticeable oil and slamming a seal (God bless Naruto) on the abused floor. Sasuke winced and spit out a tail of fire, lighting the liquid on fire as Yuuka stepped on it. It blazed up, fire separating them as a wall of death around him.

Sakura hissed with pain as Yuuka's hands was burned by the fire, the burns appearing on her hand. She dropped her bow as her hands spasmed from the pain. "Get out here!" Yuuka growled as she stalked outside the wall of fire. Sakura shakily clamped her hands over the bow and nocked an arrow.

Sasuke peeked out his tongue and set to work on healing his body as he dodged the arrows Sakura fired after him. An explosive arrow ignited inside the circle and Sasuke finally let the defence down to evade a death by explosion. He rolled over and glided down under Yuuka's legs.

Sasuke smirked at her surprise and pulled out a knife from his back pouch. A purple sheen covered the knife and he flipped it into reverse grip as he swiped at Yuuka's leg. "Sorry."

Yuuka screamed as the poison set into Yuuka's body. He wasn't all that happy about poisoning Yuuka, but as they said, no holding back. She convulsed, the poison spreading fast and fell down besides him. Her head hit the floor with a sickening crack. Sasuke winced, shaking his head as he stood up and turned to Sakura. Her eyes were wide with surprise. Sasuke moved quickly to throw the knife at her, but his body stayed, frozen in place. Sasuke looked down, his head only able to move the bare minimum to see his feet. He had landed right on the paralysis seal he'd set up just a minute earlier.

Sakura walked up to him, drawing an arrow and she stopped just before him, her arrow mere centimeters away from his face. "Now that was kinda pathetic Sasuke, we know how you fight." Sakura mocked, echoing his previous words. Her hands shook with pain and exhaustion, the tip of the arrow moving around his face. "Give up, I don't know if my hand can hold the arrow back too long."

Sasuke frowned and clicked his teeth loudly, the space to his left and right was immediately filled with a cloud of chakra. The clone hidden in the chakra output to his right quickly pushed her bow away from him as the other threw two knives at Sakura, gazing her shoulder as she flipped away from him.

She quickly wiped the blood with her fingers and brought it up to her nose. "Clones hidden as weapons and poison?" she wiped to blood on her shirt as Sasuke's clone pulled Sasuke from the seal. "Aren't you growing up to be a nice copy nin?"

"Well-" Sasuke licked his lips and jumped at her with chakra blasting into the floor. "I like options." the clone burst behind him, sending the remaining chakra back to Sasuke as he punched Sakura in the face. She'd probably kill him for that. He followed her confusion by taking his knife out and slashing it over her forearm. She almost _flew_ back from the force.

His mind blanked a second as it registered how far Sakura had been forced back from his punch. With how much chakra he'd used, Sakura should only have been pushed back 2/3rds of that distance.

Sakura faltered and Sasuke held up the knife to her throat. "Give up." She glared at him, her eyes flashing to the side for a brief moment as she closed one of them. Sasuke turned, throwing his knife with the movement. Yuuka gasped as it dug into her chest, just between two ribs.

She fell over, gasping and Sasuke panicked with his surprise, he could have sworn she was farther to the left.

A sharp pain suddenly exploded from his side, just under his ribs and Sasuke turned wide eyes towards Sakura. His hands scrambled to stop the bleeding, wrapping around the length of the arrow. " _You shot me!?_ " his voice cracked with surprise and pain.

Sakura kicked his shin and he fell to his knees, rolling over so the arrow stood up in the air to minimize the damage."You punched me. In the face." She grinned down at him and flicked the arrow in his side with her foot, sending pain flaring down his side "I win." Sakura announced to the procter.

He quickly announced Sakura the winner and she smirked nastily.

Medic's rushed to the arena as Sasuke's eyes widened with realisation. Sakura and Yuka had changed bodies. "Damnit Yuuka! We don't shoot teammates with potentially lethal arrows when you just have one eye!"

She raised an eyebrow as the medic's pulled him onto a stretcher. "I'll put it on the list."

Sasuke groaned, his eyes heavy as he felt consciousness leave him. "Yes do that, I'll just go faint while you celebrate, bye."

* * *

 _Next chapter: Breakout_

* * *

 **We're getting closer to the end as I begin preparations on a new fic. It isn't Naruto btw. Also- this long a chapter for one fight lol.**


	27. Chapter 27: Breakout

I write fanfiction, not the real deal. I'm only in the Chunin exams, why do I even need to say it? Because everyone do?

* * *

 **Chapter 27: Breakout**

* * *

Sasuke wished he could just rip the shirt in half, but stuffing it violently into the drawer was really his best alternative. The hospital had terrible sense of fashion, and burning the hospital gown would have made him extremely happy.

"Hello Sasuke!" a voice was in his ear.

Sasuke jumped ungratefully and face planted into the closet in his attempt to turn. It was really undignified. "Leo!" He said with fake cheer as he turned to the sound nin, he pulled at his hair like a schoolgirl. "What are you doing here!?" his voice pitched at the end. Leonard had definitely not been there a second earlier, had he really done his teleporting in the hospital?

"To see you of course! I'm going to visit Naruto next, I'd like to be friends!" his body moved animatedly, friendly.

"Now really?" Sasuke swallowed the feeling of wrong and danger, slipping an arm around the boy's shoulders. He led him away from the laundry room. "So! I have to ask, are you a boy or a girl?"

His eyes gleamed. "They usually choose the same genders for us you know? That's how _I_ know that up here," His finger touched Sasuke's head. "You're a girl. But I'm not."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Sasuke said easily and left the hospital, "There's an adjustment period."

"I'd think so," Leonard grinned as Sasuke dragged him into an alleyway. Civilians looked after them, rolling their eyes.

Sasuke pushed him against a dumpster when they were out of sight."What do you want you freak?"

Leonard's friendly facade slipped away and he disappeared. Sasuke was smashed against the dumpster, the edge digging into his stomach. "I was just looking around." Leonard whispered.

Flames sprung from Sasuke's hands and he grasped at Leonard's elbow. The boy hissed and twisted Sasuke's shoulder, his flames burned at the plastic dumpster. The pressure let up and Leonard pushed Sasuke's head back from where he was sitting on the trash. "Why can't we just talk?"

Sasuke clenched his teeth and glared.

"Is it because I'm trying to kill you?" The question was asked as if he'd asked about the weather.

"Sure," Sasuke said and his right fist flew at Leonard's face, his left hand grabbed his coat

His surroundings changed, Sasuke and Leonard was at a grassy area. One of the training grounds. His fist connected with a crack and the unpleasant smell of the burnt flesh filled his nostrils. "I _love_ talking."

Leonard screamed in pain and his axe was swinging at Sasuke within seconds.

He dodged under and pushed his hand against Leonard's shoe, his chakra bursting out. His foot smashed up in Leo's jaw and the boy fell back, his foot stuck and his balance in ruins. "Oh Hey!" Sasuke borrowed the axe, swinging it in his hand once before resting it on his shoulder. "Do you need this?" He nodded at the axe and kicked Leonard's shin.

"How did you-" Leonard lied still, unmoving as Sasuke glued his other foot to the ground.

"I specialise in medical ninjutsu and capture for a reason Leo- can I call you that?" Sasuke touched the seal on his arm and the axe flashed away, "I just noticed how you never touch anyone when you do that teleporting thing, It's because you don't want ride alongs right?" Sasuke couldn't kill him, so was going to take as many weapons from the boy when he could. Leo was not going to be caught off guard again. Sasuke looked into the distance and steeled himself.

Two knives in Leo's hands, one in his right shoulder and a fire sword though his left leg and arm.

"Now that will take some time to heal. And before that Gaara can do you off, bad luck really, being injured when facing him." Sasuke shook his head in fake pity, it was almost worse that Sasuke would make Gaara kill for him.

"So you don't- kill yourself but is fine with- pushing me at Gaara?" Leonard wheezed a laugh, "That's messed up! You're clearly more upset about that, than me actually dying because of that!"

"They'd get suspicious if you weren't at the finale, and I don't want to deal with sound suing me because I killed your ass." Sasuke body flickered away.

* * *

Sasuke sighed heavily as he felt the breeze cool down his skin. It was an unusually humid day in konoha, most of the population had stayed inside for the cool and dryer air.

But Sasuke was out training with Naruto (as much as he could considering his chakra paths were still sore). His teammate was sitting besides him, slumped forwards as he took a gulp of water from his bottle. Behind them was a collection of rocks Naruto had gathered from one of Konoha's training grounds.

"So when's this Jiraiya guy coming?" Sasuke asked and tilted his head so the sweat on his forehead didn't go into his eyes. He was already bored and Naruto's new teacher had asked Naruto not to do anything until he arrived, they'd ignored it and Naruto had lifted rocks.

If Sasuke lived in a world without chakra he'd say Naruto was hardcore.

Naruto shrugged and looked up to check the time. "A few minutes ago, but we're used to Kakashi-sensei and I don't think he'd be _as_ late."

Sasuke moaned and slid down to lie on the grass and use Naruto's legs as a pillow, sliding an arm under his knees. "Now stay slave, I have important beauty sleep on my schedule. Of course, you could lie down too and I could use your stomach instead. It might be softer. Or maybe we could hang like bats from the trees and weird out your new sensei- though maybe he's seen some like that bef-"

Naruto smacked a hand on his face in retaliation, efficiently shutting him up. "Shut it," He tugged at Sasuke's hair, getting a startled yelp and a slap in the face for it.

"Damn you." Sasuke muttered with a smile and closed his eyes, relaxing in the breeze as the world around became a content buzz of rustling leaves, flowing water and birds chirping.

A puff and a loud voice brought Sasuke out of his content happiness. "Oh ho ho~ what do we have here!? My new student has already learned of the subtle graces of female company I see!" the voice was loud, filled with self confidence and glee.

Naruto jerked and Sasuke was thrown of his legs. Sasuke groaned in misery. "What the hell are you talking about you perverted hermit!?" Naruto growled as Sasuke lay abandoned.

"Don't deny it brat! I saw you with that fine dark haired lady in your lap!"

Naruto growled indignantly and Sasuke sat up with a loud fake groan to convey his displeasure. "Oh god, stop saying that," he groaned and rubbed his shoulder, it was still pained from the second exam. "Everyone keeps saying that I'm a guy, then this old guy comes and breaks the consistency. Make up your damn mind people."

He looked up and the white haired man who could only have been Jiraiya. The man was frozen, staring at Sasuke with wide horrified eyes. His mouth hang and small squeaky sounds escaped his gaping mouth. Naruto, much to Sasuke's enjoyment smirked widely with smug satisfaction. The sanin closed his mouth and looked Sasuke over, his eyes narrowing when they reached the cute (if Sasuke had anything to say about it) skirt with cats he was wearing. "You're male?"

Sasuke nodded and pulled at his shit, glancing down. "Well I'd think I am?"

Jiraiya was silent before he turned away to scribble into a small notebook.

Sasuke sneaked up besides Naruto and punched him in the side. "You didn't say that he was a creep," he whispered and tugged at his skirt. "I don't like him."

"He's a great seal master," Naruto whispered as they looked at the old man draw odd shapes to accompany the writing. "I think he can teach me something and he was the fourths teacher too, plus- the old man taught him."

"He must suck ass then."

The sanin folded his notebook closed and turned to them with a horrible pose. "Uchiha Sasuke right? You will do well to remember that I do suck plenty of ass!"

"It was an insult."

Jiraiya wiggled his eyebrows at Sasuke. "I know." Sasuke immediately recognised the tone of his voice and threw a knife at him. Jiraiya caught it easily and the seal in the handle activated, letting a small water dolphin to life. It splashed into his face and Jiraiya spluttered.

Naruto made a strangled noise that was either him shocked or him trying not to alienate his potential teacher by laughing in his face. Sasuke suspected the latter.

"Don't be creepy." he hissed and crossed his arms.

Jiraiya wasn't angry or annoyed, he was instead emerged in the seal. He tilted the knife a few times and did something Sasuke was sure could have been the equivalent of him licking it, just with chakra. "This is impressive." he looked up at Sasuke and then at Naruto. "Did you make this alone?"

"The seal is based on one I made with Kakashi-sensei and jutsu is Sakura-chan's but I made the seal with my blood and chakra, only a little bit normal sealing ink."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful. "Kakashi taught you… the brat got better." He handed the knife back to Sasuke. "Show me some of your most complex seals so I can see where you are, I'll also need an idea for what types of seals _you're_ especially good at. Besides that I've heard you have a summoning contract?"

"Meerkats."

Jiraiya stared.

"Meerkats?" he choked as if he couldn't quite believe Naruto's choice of summon. "But they're useless!"

"What did you say?!" Naruto snarled. "I'll show you!" Naruto did the hand seals and summoned a meerkat at the size of a big dog. It looked like a normal meerkat, just with a large amount of blonde hair on his head. Weird.

"Naruto! You fucker! I was on a date!" The Meerkat loomed over Naruto, sitting up on his hind legs. "I told you not to summon me without someone to kill!"

"Katsuki!" Naruto grinned, undeterred by the nasty tone of his summon. He pointed shamelessly at Jiraiya. "The perverted sage was insulting you!"

Jiraiya blanched and backed away as the Meerkat turned to him. Katsuki's eyes narrowed as he took in the older shinobi's appearance. He flexed his claws, creating fire around them he then threw at the sage. "You're the toad summoner! Don't fucking insult me again or you're dead!" With that he puffed away, not wanting to be there when no fighting was happening.

Jiraiya dodged the fire and blinked at the chakra cloud as it thinned out. "He was… anticlimactic " He rubbed his hands awkwardly together. "Back to the topic at hand, sealing!" Sealing and learning was always great distractions.

Sasuke looked at him again, sneaking in a glance between bites.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked after the twentieth glance, it was seriously freaking him out. Did he have something on his face that Sasuke was silently laughing about?"

Sasuke froze, caught red handed. Or fork handed. "Uh- No, I."

Naruto fought a grin and gestured with his own fork. "I?"

"You remember how I had a weird feeling during the chunin exams?"

Naruto nodded slowly, he remembered. "So it's still there. Is it something to do with your bloodline? The Sharingan can see seconds into the future, maybe you can feel that something is about to happen."

"Yeah, maybe," He waved at the waitress, Ochako was her name. "But it's only around _you_. I can be with Sakura fine, but then I look at you and it's _there_. In my face like a fly you can't catch."

"Nothing is going to happen to me Sasuke." he drew Sasuke in for a slight hug, "I have you to protect me! And besides, we all know I'm the most badass member on team 7!"

Sasuke pushed him away with a grin. "You sure? I recall Kakashi-sensei kicking your ass into the dust!"

"Ha!" Naruto laughed and bought his arm out. "I'll show him!"

* * *

Anko walked silently through the dark walls, the only sound around her came from the outside where civilians were going along with their usual life, unaware of what was inside the building. She ignored the still ANBU hiding in the shadows, 7 squads shed counted before reaching the room she wanted.

A form stepped into her path and put a hand on her shoulder. "You are aware that you're not authorized to be here, right Anko?"

Anko hissed slowly. "Let me see the bastard," She shrugged of his hand, "You haven't killed him yet so one little visit isn't really that bad right?"

Ibiki's eyes narrowed and she raised an eyebrow. He relented and stepped back, his eyes rolled. "Make sure he's still breathing when I come back in an hour."

Anko grinned at his back and unlocked the seals keeping the door firmly shut. She peeled the door open and grinned when she spotted Orochimaru's form in the middle of the cramped space, he was tied to a metal chair and had seals plastered all over his body.

She purred as the door slammed shut behind her. "Now isn't this fun?"

He groaned and looked up at her, his face was dripping with sweat and blood. Something told her they hadn't gotten little Sasuke to cure him for his unfortunate chakra poisoning.

"Anko, how nice of you to come see me." The cursed seal on her neck flared with a stab of pain. He was threatening _her_. The little cockroach.

"Well," she sauntered up to him and roughly hooked a finger behind his right forefinger, she pushed it back. It cracked in all the joints as it wrapped around hers and Orochimaru flinched strangely. There was _betrayal_ in his eyes. "That's not _nice._ "

"Kabuto?" he sounded mad.

"Yeah, I've decided that you're not needed anymore. Orochimaru- _sama_." Anko's voice is distant as she focuses on writing down the name Orochimaru had called her. The only person she knew with that name was the genin that pussied out of the third round. She rolled up the paper and slipped it through the hidden compartment behind a sealed section of the wall.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing much," Anko spun happily on her feet. "Just a bit of chakra poisoning!"

"That's impossible!"

"Why?"

Orochimaru spat. "Because they said I would be immune! The corrosion of chakra designed and used as a weapon, how did Konoha survive it!? Did you switch masters? Did they turn to Konoha!? The demon said his enemy was here! Was that pathetic idealistic village _better_ than me!? Answer me Kabuto!"

Anko frowned at his mad ramblings, "No, no, no! You're doing it wrong," She hissed and slapped him, his cheek split. Orochimaru frowned tiredly, his head rolled to the side as blood dripped down, "You're supposed to scream, in pain. And horror. And maybe some excitement you sick bastard."

Orochimaru squinted at her. "Anko?"

"Duh."

He looked at her with disappointment, she hadn't seen that specific expression since she was a child. "What are you doing here? I said to stay out of my lab."

Anko barked with laughter and spun a senbon in her fingers. "You've lost it!" she gave the senbon a final flourish before stabbing it into Orochimaru's disgusting yellow eye.

He grunted but didn't scream.

"Well that's disappointing," she leaned on her other foot and twisted the senbon around. This time he did scream and Anko let the sound wash over her with a smile. She ripped it out and as she prepared to gouge out his other eye, the door opened behind her.

She turned. "Come on Ibiki… Why won't you let me have my fun?" she squinted at the opening. "...Who the fuck are you!?"

Her world turned to darkness.

* * *

"Why are you here Rukia? I just fell asleep an hour ago." Sasuke yawned and rubbed his eyes against the lights of the street lamps.

Sasuke had been up late the day previously because of training with Danzo. He was exhausted from the muscle destroying physical training, his limbs felt like jelly. The man had been furious, he had foreseen Sasuke becoming chunin. But when Sakura beat his ass, Danzo had retaliated with training.

The training had been Sasuke against a few of Danzo's personal agents who, had driven Sasuke until he'd been unable to even move. During the 'training' or torture, Sasuke had strived to knock the masks of them to get their identities for the Hokage. He managed to get two of them.

"Sasuke." Rukia was slouching slightly, her eyebrows drawn tight as she stared at him. Sasuke shook himself from his thoughts and straightened a bit, something was wrong. "Can you feel your own chakra from a distance?"

"Yes. Why?" He asked slowly.

"Not here." She gestured for him to move over. Once he was close to her, she put an arm on his shoulder and flipped him up in her arms. She body flicked and stopped in a messy garden with grass straying up to her knees. A house that has seen better days stood a few meters from them, the bricks were crumbling and plants grew all over the structure. Sasuke wasn't sure if the building was holding itself or if it was the plants. He hissed in distaste.

"Really?"

Rukia rolled her eyes and let him down, lightly pushing him towards to door. Inside the building was a million times better, everything was _clean._ If he was desperate enough, Sasuke was sure he could eat on the floor without dying from dirt. The walls were covered by bookcases and on the floor was a few chairs scattered around a table. On the chairs sat Kakashi the sensei and Jiraiya the perv.

"Sasuke." Kakashi-sensei spoke. "Come sit, you've officially joined a S-rank mission. That means there's a few papers you have to read and sign. You should be familiar with the process of confidentiality."

Sasuke stiled. "I - what?" He looked around wildly, he did not want to be part of a S ranked mission. "Kakashi-sensei! I'm a _genin_ and I'm the one that definitely _won't_ become chunin on the team. If you need me for something with finding my chakra wouldn't Naruto be better? He's actually a sensor!"

Jiraiya pulled the empty chair besides him out as Rukia pushed him to the table. "Just sit down and sign the damn papers girly brat, Naruto was never an option for this anyway."

Sasuke sat down with a big frown to show them how very annoyed he was about the situation and took the papers. He skimmed through the contents and when he didn't find something shady he signed. "So what's so difficult that you need a genin so green you would taste salad on him if you took a lick?"

"Anko and Orochimaru are missing as of 22:10 yesterday." Kakashi was blunt and Sasuke glanced over at Rukia. She was staring at her hands intently.

Jiraiya picked up and showed Sasuke a crumbled piece of paper. "The last we've heard of Anko was when she left this message in the secret compartment of Orochimaru's cell."

" _Kabuto (spy). CP. Orochimaru connection. Foreigners. Demons (Not tailed beasts?)_." The words were scattered around the paper with no clear direction, but one thing was obvious. Kabuto was one of Orochimaru's agents. Sasuke felt a headache starting. Kabuto had been a friend who Sasuke had relied on many times, and he was a traitor. _A spy_.

"This still doesn't explain why you need me specifically, any sensor could find Orochimaru if they knew how my black chakra felt. And I doubt this message is the hard part," he turned in his chair. "So why do you need me?"

Rukia rubbed her forehead. "The whole cell has been quarantined, it's as if you'd been there and spread your chakra everywhere. We can't get in, two agents are already in the hospital with a severe chakra poisoning. We need you to clear it out."

"I want to see the two ANBU first," Sasuke said and clutched his contract tightly, the paper rippled. "Please."

Jiraiya nodded and Kakashi stood up and placed his hand on a green book titled 'The leaf cycles'. A seal spread from his hand in intricate maze of patterns and the bookcase swung inwards, leading down into an old pathway.

Sasuke was led down the paths of what he could only assume to be a part of the Black Ops headquarters or a decision of it. With Orochimaru having been a resident, Sasuke guessed Torture and Interrogation.

They finally stopped after several turns that made his head spin from trying to remember the way out. He was showed into a room with crude medical equipment and was immediately drawn the to two masked agents withering on hard tables. They didn't even have pillows.

"Okay," Sasuke muttered and glanced at Rukia's stone hard expression. She looked pained. "I'll need someone to hold them down while I get the poisoned parts of their chakra out. I don't want to die because of a home call. Then I'll need someone to bring me a plant."

The were prepared and Sasuke was handed a small oak sapling as Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya held the first screaming agent down. Sasuke set to work, placing his hands on two chakra paths. He drew in the black poison and his eyes flashed completely black. Jiraiya who stood opposite of him jerked in surprise and the ANBU immediately lashed out. Sasuke yelped as the agent made a long cut on his forehead and slipped his hands from his body.

Jiraiya grabbed the man's arm and forced him down. "Hurry!"

Sasuke grimaced as blood drifted down into his eyes, he closed them and continued on. A warm hand gazed over his forehead and Rukia's chakra healed the small cut in seconds. She began wiping the blood off.

The man slumped as the rest of the poison was drained out. Sasuke opened his eyes, quickly finding the plant and pushing all the chakra inside instead of naturally purifying it in his own chakra.

"Okay," Sasuke gasped, almost letting his numb legs carry him to the floor. His own Chakra poisoning was okay to go around in his body, but with a CP developed in another the foreign chakra fought back. It was one of the basics of medical ninjutsu, converting your chakra to a form that would match the patient. But forming another's chakra was impossible for him, it was something only someone like Tsunade-sama could do. "Next"

He repeated the process and after messily - his hands were very sweaty - pushing the corrupted chakra into the poor plant, Sasuke slipped away into unconsciousness.

He came too again and was being held up by Rukia, her arm was under his armpit and wrapped around to hold him at his waist. "How long was I out?"

She shifted and let him use his own strength to keep him on his feet by using the table.

"Just a few minutes," Rukia said and touched his forehead. "I'm going to take you to a bed and then you'll sleep for few hours. We'll continue when you are stable again."

Sasuke blinked drowsily, "Sure." his eyes closed and dreams took him.

* * *

The cell Orochimaru had been inside was covered from head to toe with blood. Sasuke closed his eyes and thought about grass, the shaking in his hands lessened. He kept his eyes closed and felt for the chakra in the air, he breathed through his mouth and tasted it. He nudged the chakra with his own and the black, light absorbing chakra began surging towards him.

Sasuke frowned at the amount of chakra in the air. It was too little for Orochimaru to have been cured completely, he'd simply been poisoned too long for only what amounted to high chunin reserves to have been infected. The chakra burned through his body and Sasuke knocked on the door out.

"It should be-" He almost fell. Why did others chakra have to be so damned painful. "Clear now."

Rukia rushed in and hurled him to his feet, pushing a plant into his hands as ANBU swarmed the room looking for evidence. Sasuke was led out and he apologised mentally to the plant in his arms as he pushed Orochimaru's chakra into it.

It died almost instantly.

"You brave soul, now go," He whispered the words and pressed his forehead gently to the pot. "To a better world."

A few ANBU looked at him oddly and edged away but Sasuke could live with that as he set the plant on fire.

"He's still poisoned," Sasuke told Kakashi-sensei who was nearest, "He's been like that for a week or so, there should have been way more chakra inside that room. Like at least two times as much. That also means that if Orochimaru used Chakra at some point, maybe for speed, he's left some CP remains somewhere."

Kakashi nodded. "Then we can track him," he gripped Sasuke by his shoulders and practically dragged him away. He crouched down in front of him and his hand put almost painful pressure on Sasuke _._ "I was told you have knowledge that might help us. So what I want to know is what my cute little student could possibly know about the person who took Orochimaru and Anko."

"Well it's a long story," Sasuke said and looked at Kakashi's eye. "We don't really have time for me to explain it all, but the person who did this can teleport," Sasuke gathered his courage, no going back. "I'll explain when we've gathered."

"I see." Kakashi said and released Sasuke from his grip. He went back inside the room without a word.

Sasuke winced.

"Is there a reason why you're not just telling Kakashi?" The voice behind him made Sasuke jump and frail in surprise. One of his hands slapped Jiraiya in the face and Sasuke forced his arms to stay still.

"...Yes?"

"The old man already told me about you Sasuke," The small pink hand mark on his face began fading. "Don't look so surprised brat, I'm Konoha's main intelligence force. It's my job to know things, even if it concerns a kid like you," Jiraiya blinked as Sasuke muttered something. "What was that?"

"I'm not a child."

"I don't see why not, look at what you just did. Acted like a kid and didn't explain to your superior just why you might be key in this mission. If you had been an adult you'd explained and faced the consequences. You've been lying to everyone for for years Sasuke, there's probably enough holes in your story that several individuals already suspects something.

"I get that you were probably scared, any civilian suddenly pushed into the shinobi life would be. But you've done well as a shinobi so don't you think it might be time to let the cat out of the bag?"

Sasuke stared at him. "I'm still not a kid you know, and I do know all the stuff you just told me. No need to repeat. The reason why I haven't told anyone besides the Hokage who, for the record strong armed me into telling him! Is because I forgot."

"You forgot?" Jiraiya asked dubiously.

"Well you know," Sasuke made a vague hand gesture. "I don't really think about it."

"I can accept that," Jiraiya said with an odd look in his eye and Sasuke almost fell to the floor in relief, maybe it was pain but- details. "But. You're going to come clean, at least with our team, do you understand?"

"You're strong arming me," Sasuke frowned. "Is this a thing you old people do or what?"

Jiraiya grinned, "It seemed to work for the old man, so yes. Do we have a deal?"

Sasuke scowled, "I promised Kakashi-sensei anyway you know, I just need the information."

* * *

Mister Shadow loomed over something Sasuke couldn't quite make out, it was moving slightly, like a trembling. But otherwise remained still. Mister Shadow was speaking to it as his arm like shadows moved around it.

"Someone took Orochimaru, and pushed chakra poisoning from his body."

Mister Shadows edges stopped moving their fluid, random patterns. " _ **What did you just say?**_ " his words were harsh, and no curse word had been delivered with them.

"Someone literally pushed Orochimaru from the poison and then dumped it all in the room he'd been in," Sasuke paused and raked a hand through his hair, messing it up, "will you tell me _anything_ about the teleporting boy band? Who's the demon? Why did they take _Orochimaru?,_ and how the hell did they even manipulat-" Sasuke stopped as Mister Shadow lifted the shape from the floor. It was a boy, he was maybe nine years old with familiar dark hair.

"What-" Sasuke swallowed uneasily, "Why is he here?"

Mister Shadow threw the boy at Sasuke's feet. The boy whimpered and curled in on himself. " **Because I fucking can. And because I need the bitch."**

"Why do you need the old Sasuke?" Sasuke crouched down and pulled the original Sasuke up against him. The boy looked at him in surprise, studying his face with wonder. He shivered and leaned back against Sasuke's embrace. The younger Sasuke closed his eyes as his entire body glowed.

It was as if he shattered into a million small lights, and before Sasuke flinched away with surprise, the lights rushed into his body.

Sasuke shrieked and fell back on his hands. " **For that."** Mister Shadow said gleefully.

"Wh- what was that?" He felt odd, as if his limbs were stretching, becoming longer despite not moving at all. He opened his eyes despite not remembering closing them, and saw something he'd never seen before. It resembled Mister Shadow with the shadows swirling around it, but inside the blurry shadows was a creature that looked like a demon from his world. "What- why do-"

The creature grinned. " **So you can finally fucking see, I thought maybe I'd have to feed your bitch ass** _ **more**_ **fucking souls."**

"I-" Sasuke was at a loss for words, his mouth opened and closed. He could only stare at the smug wrapped face, his mind not comprehending _what_ he'd been told.

" **Ah, nothing to say bitch? Well I'm sure you've noticed the increased strength? The better eyesight? How you're suddenly faster than a week ago? That's all me bitch! I've improved you!** "

Sasuke closed his eyes and breathed carefully. He pushed all the information he'd just gotten back into his mind. "Don't evade my questions. Who's the demon and how do I find him?"

Mister Shadows grin fell into a scowl, his face became almost sad. " **That's really what you want to know? How to die?"**

"No, but we need to find Orochimaru and Akno and you want this demon right? Leonard is one of his, and your reaction to him suggests that you know who he is."

His eyes narrowed in something like frustration. It was odd to see emotions displayed so openly on his face. " **You're going to your death."**

Sasuke crossed his arms. "And you care why?"

" **His name is** **Travis Roswell, he can bend space and emotions. He's a fucking bag of dicks and deserve to be tortured until he calls for his unexciting slut of a mom!"** He said instead.

"You hate him," Sasuke realised blandly, " It's not just about getting his power for yourself. _You despite this guy._ And he hates you too, it's why his people are here in the first place! That guy in wave, he _knew,_ that's why he told me not to get attached! Because this Travis guy is after _you_ and by relation _me!"_

* * *

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Rukia looked up from her bowl, it was filled with pre made food. Normal provisions from the hospital to medic nin, they were better than the regular ones. Because medics was like gods on earth. "Don't say that Sasuke," she tugged him down besides her. "I already knew you know, well not everything. But I knew you hadn't lost your memory. Too many negative tests Sasuke. Too many."

"I- Um." Sasuke blinked.

"That's right brat. You're pathetic."

"Thanks."

She smiled at her kid. Why did he have to be caught up in something so, dangerous? "Get some sleep alright? We're almost there so sleep, I'm about ready to fall over myself."

Sasuke swallowed, "Why am I here? We have a team of jounin, but you still want me to go with you. It doesn't make sense, I'm a genin -chunin if we took capabilities -I don't belong on this team. If we get into a fight, which we will, I'll just be in the way."

Rukia thought about it. "I don't know why you're here," She admitted with a yawn, "But there must have been a reason for the Hokage to put you here, so don't think about it too much."

"...Sure.

* * *

Sasuke woke up startled, the softness he had fallen asleep in was gone, replaced by hard floors. He held his breath and slowed his breathing until it was a pretty convincing pattern. He squashed his panic and let one red eye peek out from a thin line.

Only to be splashed in the face with water.

"Good morning!" Sasuke faintly recognized the voice. "Now open your eyes!"

Sasuke opened them and glared hard, swirling a genjutsu into the man's mind. It was instantly shattered. Sasuke knew who he was then, the large scar in the shape of a wolf. "Katie right?" The man had a yellow light coming from his body, like a glowing sun.

Kazuki raised an eyebrow. "You do realise that no one from this world would have gotten that insult right?"

Sasuke snarled. "It would have given me so much personal pleasure."

Kazuki grinned and bend down to pull Sasuke from his floor. "That's the spirit. Now then Sasuke, when we first met I wanted to sell you, you could have gotten me loads of cash-"

"Yay for me."

"-But now I want you to let Attor out so I can kill him and my master can get this world," He dragged Sasuke to the door, not even letting him walk himself, "I even took that skimpy lady as bait just to make sure you'd come, Leonard says she's special to you. Thank you for his injuries, it was a delight to operate on him. I'm not a doctor, but there's something about cutting in people. I'm sure you'd understand."

"Uh no." Sasuke muttered, why did he always always get kidnapped.

"You're no fun dear." Kazuki said and opened a beautiful wooden door with a golden handle. The led them to a loon room with a table dressed for kings and queens, food was almost stacked on top of each other just to make room. Only two of the chairs along the table was occupied, one by Leonard and the other by Naruto.

They were both glowing like Kazuki. Naruto less, but there was a definitely a glowy thing with him.

Sasuke made to rush for His teammate but was held back, the grip on his arm turning painful. "None of that," Kazuki said and pulled Sasuke over to the chair opposite of Naruto. Naruto was asleep, his mouth falling open in a peaceful expression.

Sasuke was forced down into the chair and looked over to where Leonard was sitting a few chairs away. "Why is Naruto here?"

Leo pulled his fork from his mouth and talked as he chewed. "Later Sasuke, food first. That's the rules. Pleasure, then business," His hands were bandaged in layers, but blood painted them red. Leo noticed Sasuke staring, "Yeah, I'm not really in the best shape yet."

Kazuki had walked around the table, standing behind Leonard he cleared his throat. "You see Sasuke, we don't want to be your enemy," Leo nodded in agreement as Kazuki grabbed the back of his neck, "This little idiot was supposed to test you and possibly recruit you. But _he_ decided he wanted to kill you instead, and we don't kill our own. do we?" The last question was aimed at Leonard.

"Ye-Yeah." He stuttered and after seconds pause his face was smashed down into the food filled plate. Sasuke flinched.

"Speak clearly." Kazuki commanded.

Leonard pushed his jaw out in a angry but desperate expression. "Yes."

Kazuki nodded in satisfaction and disappeared from his spot. Leo began cleaning up his plate,ignoring the pieces of glass in his face. A hand touched Sasuke's shoulder and he flinched with the knowledge of who it was.

"We don't Kill each other Sasuke, don't be afraid. Leonard knew that would happen, he disobeyed our master and was lucky I'm his superior on this mission or he'd be dead," The hand disappeared and he pulled the chair out besides Sasuke, sitting down. He gestured to Naruto for a small moment and leaned closely to Sasuke's face, invading his space. "You can see it, can't you?"

Sasuke didn't reply but Kazuki took it as a yes. The man grinned widely and grabbed Sasuke's jaw in a bruising grip. "So nice of Attor to prepare your soul for my master, he does only take the strongest," Kazuki let go of him. "You noticed that your friend isn't glowing all that much? That's because his soul hasn't been upgraded. It's truly impressive that it's even glowing, Yours didn't the last time we met. Weak but with potential, just like Leonard. Isn't that right?" Leonard glanced up from his cleaning and nodded ever so slightly with a grimace. "Now, I believe your friend is awake as well."

"Sasuke?" Naruto said as his eyes blinked open and focused on him.

Before Sasuke could reply Kazuki let out a joy filled sound that send shivers down his spine. "Our fourth guest has finally joined us, it's time to eat then!"

* * *

Next Chapter: The end

* * *

 _Outtakes from the chapter that was written before I changed the story to fit the end in 3 chapters time instead of 20._

* * *

Sasuke lifted his head from the nice white and extremely comfortable pillow. "Why?"

Ino fidgeted and folded her hands in her lap, she swallowed slowly. "I didn't even have to fight, but I saw how far behind everyone else I am. I don't even _deserve_ my place in the finals, anyone else would have been more deserving. _You_ Would have been more deserving. But." She sits up straight and stares him down. "I'm not going to waste away my opportunity by sitting around _crying_ about it." She does looks like she has been crying despite her words, her eyes are red around the edges.

Sasuke tried to push himself up but his hands slipped with exhaustion and he fell down. He closed his eyes and threw his forearm over his eyes. He hated chakra exhaustion. "You do realise that I'm probably one of the worst people to ask for this right? I'd say Anko would be better, she's a pro. And she's a freak but don't tell her I said that."

Ino had gotten the only free pass to the third test and it was clear that she felt intimidated by what she'd seen while on the sidelines of preliminaries. So she'd come to him while he was weakest, a day since the exams and in a hospital bed. Sasuke's problem with teaching her didn't lie in the _teaching_ aspect as much as it was how much time it would take. He already had training planned with both Naruto, Hinata, Danzo, Rukia and some soft training with Ochako, then he had some business with Jeraru. He was sad he wouldn't see Yuuko and Sakura as much in the following month, but also making time with them would have been pushing it for his personal tastes.

"But…" Ino hesitated and thinned her lips, "I don't know who to go to, my dad's busy with some high security prisoner, all my other relatives don't have time and you're… well, not doing anything. Just lying there." She gestured loosely at his body. "Doing nothing."

Sasuke felt himself weakening despite her comment. damn his bleeding heart. "You got me there. But I can't promise that I'm good or that anything I can teach you will help." He tiredly holds up a finger wiggling it in her face. "You get one hour, two days a week, I'm a busy girl. That means a lot of self study and training if you want to catch up."

Ino nodded eagerly, almost jumping out her chair in elation. "That's okay! as long as it's something!"

"Why don't we start now?" Sasuke suggested with a long and tired blink.

"Yes!"

He yawned. "Go run around my compound a few twenty times and come wake me so I can point you to a book on all things poisonous. And since you already have a background with plants it should be easy for you to understand."

Ino froze, her face betraying her confusion. "...What!?"

Sasuke tried to shrug but it came off as a weird twitch. "Kakashi-sensei forced us to train with the demon overlord Gai. Twenty times around my compound is child's play compared to the torture we've been subjected to."

She licked her lips and looked really close to regretting her decisions. She closed her eyes and opened them with a new determination. She stood, her chair scraping on the floor and walked to the door. "Make that thirty." She promised and left.

Sasuke stared after her and closed his eyes, letting his worries drift away into sleep.

* * *

Sasuke squinted at the green liquid Ino had presented to him and dripped some down on a old ham he'd forgotten to eat. The liquid sizzled at contact and dug down the meat a good three centimetres.

Sasuke stared at the depth and winced. It stank. "I am so happy Sakura beat my ass." he looked up at Ino, she was grinning like maniacal person. "You do realise that I did _not_ teach you this?"

Ino shrugged and withdrew the bottle from him and sealed it safely inside with a glass crok. "I did my own research. Did you know that extract from the flower red death can be used to synthesize burning liquids?"

He took a long look at her. "No. But I do now, and now I know why it's called that." He didn't even recognise the flower name, so chances were it was a flower made perfectly for the world where people killed each other as a profession. It would have something like that. Sasuke took a good long breath through his nose. "Okay, you're not making anything without supervision again. okay?"

"Why?" She asked. "Nothing went wrong."

"That doesn't mean it never will. I won't have you die because of some stupid idea of experimenting with things you don't understand. Do you understand?"

"But-" She began.

"INO!" She winced at his volume. "You were careful, I'll give you that. But if you do this again I'm either going to laugh when you burn your eye out or I'm going to force you to become a medic nin. understand? Because only medic nin's or jounin are allowed to experiment with poisons in Konoha. Or do you want to move, become a missing nin or have a very embarrassing meeting with the hokage that can end with you in jail?"

"I-" She looked like she did not really believe him, and he might have distorted the truth a _bit_. "Okay."

Sasuke looked at her appraisingly, "Good, now. we were going to do a bit of ninjutsu today right?"

* * *

Sasuke planted his ass on the stool and waved slightly at Ochako. She immediately noticed him and and rushed over. "Do you want to order something Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nah. I wanted to know how it's going, it's been awhile since I could check up on the restaurant. But it's clearly doing decently enough, so how are you?"

She smiled brightly and clasped her hands in front of her. "It's going great! My grandfather has begun doing all kinds physical activity. And the money I get for standing here is enough to pay for the genin corps training programme as well as saving some up."

Ochako had slowly become something of Sasuke's personal project. She had started work in Sasuke and Jeraru's restaurants immediately after they'd opened up as a waiter. She'd been _good_ at it and sasuke was a bit sad that he was going to lose her to some jounin when she became genin. But it was her dream so Sasuke could only support her. And give her private training on the side which basically made her the most qualified academy student in her class. Sasuke was proud. busy as hell. but proud.

Sasuke nodded and slid a scroll over the counter, hiding it from sight as if it was drugs. a smirk tugged at his lips when a few customers looked over at them curiously.

"...Is that?" Her eyes held an excited gleam. It was why she was so good at her job, she loved the western food Sasuke had been able to recreate. It could take him a pretty long time to recreate them simply because while he had once been able to remember most of them perfectly, some of them he hadn't used since becoming Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded slowly. "The new recipes. Will you give them to Numaru-san?"

She leaned down and took it from his hands, the scroll going smoothly into her sleeve. "Of course, when are you coming by again? The cooks loved it the last time you joined in."

"That's only because it's weird recipes and they're not used to them. I'm still not a professional you know. Besides, Ino- she's a Yamanaka- convinced me to train her a bit, I have no idea why she thought _I_ was such a good idea."

She hummed and tapped her lip with a pen. "I think it's the air around you Sasuke-kun. Besides, you're a wonderful teacher when you want to be." She noticed a customer. "Are we still up for wednesday?" she asked quickly.

"Yes." Sasuke replied and smiled as she hurried over to take the man's order.


	28. Chapter 28: The End

**Chapter 28: The end**

* * *

Kakashi pulled his breath into a smooth pattern as he woke, masking the fact he was awake. He pushed a small bit of chakra to his ears and listened for the heartbeats of his current team. There was two more compared to yesterday, three of the five were awake. He had fallen asleep on his watch. He _never_ fell asleep. They'd been poisoned.

"Don't even bother faking sleep brat." Jiraiya's voice was from the heartbeat to his left. Kakashi opened his eyes and sat up and took in the surroundings.

Sasuke was missing and Anko was sleeping in Rukia's lap as she ran her healing hands over her body. On the other side, by Jiraiya was Orochimaru. His body was tied up in all kinds of rope, wire, seals and white hair from the sannin. In the middle, between the two groups sat a boy with average appearance. He was looking at Kakashi like he could see his very soul.

The boy waved. "I'm Mark." He said and Kakashi frowned at the name, it sounded oddly, like it was breaking the rules of his speech.

"He woke us up," Jiraiya explained, "He's the one Sasuke said he'd contact before we left."

He dug at the dirt with his hands. "You're lucky I was here, or you all would have been _sleeping beauties_ for a long while."

"Where's Sasuke?"

"It's a pretty common tactic for Travis's people, take bait and lure target out so they're easier to catch. Leave bait because there's a chance the bait will be worth more to the people coming to the rescue. Boring but it works. But it also works in our advantage."

Rukia looked up with narrowed eyes. "How? How can losing all track of Sasuke be an advantage?"

"Because," Mark grinned thinly, I know how far they can go in a day. And I also know how to find them, but I'll need the old guys help."

"What do you need?" Jiraiya glared at the comment but complied anyway.

"You're a summoner for the toads, right? I know you can do sage mode and that what I'll need so I can gain access to the nature energy of your world." He pulled out a few bracelets and held one up to each of them. "Now put these on so they can't sense you guys."

* * *

Sasuke finished his plate in silence. He was avoiding Naruto's gaze, not wanting to see the disappointment in them, or even the betrayal.

Kazuki stood, his chair scraping at the floor as it was pushed back. "Now that that's over and done with, let's get down to business," he flexed his hands out in front of him and sat down again, pulling his feet up on the table, "You two are probably wondering how we got you both here and why. So, I'll start with how." He disappeared from the chair, leaving it empty and alone.

"We can teleport- it's really as simple as that, but we do have a maximum range so we just had to lure Sasuke out here," His voice came from the other side of the table, he was leaning on a chair. "So, we took Orochimaru and that woman, just in case Orochimaru wouldn't be motivation enough to come scouring. Then it was simple enough to plant the idea that Sasuke _really_ _had_ to come with them to find our bait, while Leonard snatched Naruto as he was sleeping. When you then ate the food from the hospital that Leonard here had poisoned with a tasteless sedative, we took you and left Orochimaru and the woman back and your campsite. Tied up of course, we can't be too careful." Kazuki sat down with a pleased smile.

"Now to the why and how we'll accomplish it. We want to kill Attor, of course." Kazuki crossed his arms. "But we need you Sasuke to summon him here as he's tied to your soul. We took Naruto because we need more of our own, and if Sasuke refused, it would be easy to use Naruto as leverage."

Naruto scowled. "What do you mean one of yours?" he demanded and pushed his plate away.

Kazuki looked at him for a small moment, as if to figure out a puzzle. He laughed. "You didn't think you could actually _naturally_ feel and manipulate the emotions of others!? That's a gift of Travis, our Lord. You never wondered why Sasuke was the only one whose emotions were difficult to feel? It's because he's your enemy, and one's opponents always makes tactics to combat you. Granted, your ability is weak compared to Leonard or mine, you are certainly not fractured like us."

Naruto didn't say anything as Kazuki paused for his reaction, his mind was racing, grasping one thought before letting it go and taking another. He couldn't think, it was like when he was told he was told he had the Nine tails inside him. His mind just stopped functioning.

Sasuke's fist slammed into the table, bouncing the items on it. "How?" Sasuke demanded, getting out the question Naruto had wanted to ask as well.

"Because of his father of course! He sold his soul and everything, just for his village. Travis couldn't just let the opportunity go, he had to get a foothold here. The world filled with such bright souls. The fourth Hokage never knew it wasn't the Shinigami that helped him seal the nine tails though, it was our Lord. It's pitiful really," Kazuki's expression changed then, from pleasant to furious, "But of course Attor had to sink his venomous claws into this word only nine years after. Creating a way for him to walk among the living before my Lord could."

"My dad?" Naruto knew his voice was cracking as he finally found it. Kazuki was undeterred.

"That doesn't really matter right now," The older man sighed dismissively like he was talking to a small child, "What does matter is that Travis has offered a deal, You and Naruto join us. Unfortunately, there's no chance Naruto will ever be fractured. It's a pity, but you can make up for his disadvantages. If you decide the wise route, we'll leave this universe with all your friends alone. But you must do something for us in return, a gift for our lord."

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, unbothered by all the information. He had always been better at taking in information and not dwelling on it until he had the time for a freak out. It was the same after their first C rank, Sasuke had been somewhat normal until they got back to Konoha and he let his feelings out.

"It's simple really," Kazuki sauntered over and gripped Sasuke's shoulders, rubbing them in a way that was meant to be comforting, "Attor can only come out of his own will, and he's refusing to do so. But there is a way to force him out so we can kill him. For that I'll need both of you to do a small ritual. Afterwards it'll be easy to kill him as his form will be weakened in the mortal plane."

Naruto blinked dully, he wasn't sure what was going on. Something about mortal planes, the nine tails and his- his _dad_.

Kazuki smiled. "Yes or no?"

* * *

They followed Jiraiya, as he talked to the two toads sitting on his shoulders. His face had wrapped from the intake of Narute chakra, and the red lines over his eyes had expanded to cover the sides of his face. He stopped and held his left hand up for them to stop, a perplexed expression crossed his face. "We're here."

They walked a bit further and entered a clearing where a massive castle stood towering up above the treetops. The castle had been hidden before they had stood in the clearing. It was black, the castle seeming to absorb light and the roof was a deep red, like blood.

Mark whistled besides Rukia. "Well this certainly has the Travis look." He looked impressed with the architecture, foregoing the reason they were there.

A boy appeared before them in a blink of a second, he crossed his arms. "Go back you Idiots," He turned to look at mark. "You're seriously going to help _them_? That's so unlike you Mark, you dislike mortals. Just give me the woman."

Rukia Rushed at Leonard - if she remembered his name correctly - and swiped a hand infused with medical chakra at his head. He disappeared just as he'd appeared and reappeared to her side with a hand to her head. his fingers curled into her hair.

"Down."

Rukia stopped and stepped back, her eagerness to kill the boy in front of her dissolving.

"Rukia?" Kakashi was touching her shoulder, channeling his chakra to her as his Sharingan gazed at her confused. He turned, ready to attack Leonard, his hand curled and lightning streaked up his arm in preparation of the Chidori. A stone flew and smashed into Kakashi's hand, he flinched. He cancelled the Chidori and looked at the one who threw the stone.

"Don't bother," Mark huffed and glanced at them annoyed, "You'll just become passive too, Jiraiya can maybe resist it. But that's a big maybe. I'll take care of it." Mark swiped his hand up in front of him and pulled up. The ground burst open with the movement and roots rushed out, pulling at the ground as they smashed towards Leonard.

Leonard disappeared quickly and swung his axe at Mark's head, a tree to the side bend over and smashed Leonard away. Leonard stopped and fire bloomed over his axe. "You know you can't fucking beat ME!" Leonard snarled and Smashed the blade of the axe into the ground. warmth spread over the ground and the roots crawling from the ground was consumed by an inferno of fire. The roots died out, burnt to ash.

Leonard rushed at Mark and planted his axe in front of the other boy. he swung his body on the weapon and kicked Marks face in. Mark staggered back, falling. He pushed his left hand down into the earth and gripped a root, he pulled it up. the root circled around Leonards foot and trapped him down into the ground, knee deep. Leonard huffed and teleported over to Mark. He kicked to downed boy. "Really? didn't I just say you couldn't beat me?"

Mark rolled over and grinned widely. "I know _I_ can't"

"Why did you even try th-" Leonard gasped, his speech cut short. he looked down where Jiraiya had his whole arm stuck through his stomach, a Rasengan was at the tips of the sages fingers. Jiraiya ripped out his hand and shoved Leonards body to the side.

"That's that, the kid's dead. let's get moving." Jiraiya swiped his arm from the most of the guts and blood on the wet grass.

"Technically Leonard is still alive," Mark commented though a wince as he rose to his feet. He lost the balance in this legs and fell on all fours, puking. He placed his hand on his stomach and began slowly healing the internal damage. "Its up to travis if he want to consume Leonards soul or he wants to give him a new body."

"You mean that little bastard is still out there?" Rukia growled, the anger she'd felt earlier returning full force as Leonard's influence disappeared from her mind. She stalked towards Mark and lifted him up, smacking him against a tree. "What the hell!? You said you would help up get Sasuke back, but all you've done is put us in more danger! You should have told up that Kakashi and I are basically useless against these guys! What's with the whole 'he's still alive' too!? Are you fucking me? There's lives on the line and _you're not giving us all the information! People die when they go in half blind!_ "

Mark smiled at the side of his mouth. "Kakashi seemed to do well even though he's half blind."

Rukia screamed with rage, ready to pummel the boy to death but Jiraiya held her back. "Now isn't the time Rukia, focus on the objective."

* * *

"Of course, you'd refuse," Kazuki dragged his fingers down his forehead with annoyance, "Everyone from this world is so damn loyal, it's disgusting really."

"Maybe it's because you're just an asshole." Sasuke snapped back and bared his teeth in a treat. Kazuki had tied both him and Naruto to the insides of a circle littered with candles and symbols in seemingly random patterns with bowls at the size of his head placed with equal distance around it.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Your compliance would only have made this far easier, but sometimes the difficult way does give the best results. First," He clapped his hands. "Leonard, be a good boy and fetch the woman."

Leo took a last tug at Naruto's restraints as he looked over what Sasuke imagined must be some sort of summoning circle. "Sure."

Sasuke followed Leonard with his eyes as the boy left. "Can Naruto and I get some alone time? You know before you gut us for our insides? One last wish before death, settle our scores. Stuff like that?"

Naruto glanced up at him in the corner of his eye as Kazuki thought about Sasuke's proposal. "Why not? You both will be dead in a few hours regardless. Sasuke here for Attor and Naruto here for Sasuke, this ritual really is exciting!"

He left the room and Naruto spoke, his voice cracked. "I guess we'll never get to tell each other our secrets in our own time now."

Sasuke laughed at that. "No I guess not. So, the Nine Tails huh? It certainly explains how the people who think I'm god on earth think you're the devil on earth."

"Yeah…" Naruto trailed off, unable to really say anything in their situation. They were cut off from everything, their chakra sealed and their bodies restrained.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto and wiggled, pulling with his arms. His left hand screamed with pain as he ripped it free from its binding and carefully wiggled his arm free. He looked at the hand fleetingly -it was bleeding- and set to work on the seal fastened to his stomach. He had to be careful with it or his chakra could be blocked for the rest of his life, it was why one of the first things you learned about chakra blocking seals was how to safely remove one. He bend and looked down at it, he didn't recognise most of the symbols.

"Hey Naruto? A little help please?"

Naruto looked up and gaped at Sasuke's free arm, it was bleeding badly from long scratches made when Sasuke ripped it free.

"The seal please."

"Oh," He looked over the seal and squinted to better see the symbols interwoven with each other. "Right. There's a lightning, fire and earth seal, the round one is for spirit." He listed of the symbols and their effects, alone and combined. Slowly as he listed them off more confidence entered his voice until he stopped. He wiggled getting slightly closer to Sasuke and let his body fall awkwardly forwards. His voice lost all confidence. "I thought that it might have been a Delta symbol for foreign elements, but I have no idea what it is Sasuke. It's something entirely else, it's not- It's not from our world." saying the last words hurt, but Naruto had to acknowledge the existence of other worlds sooner than later.

Sasuke looked at him, his eyes narrowed, his teeth gritted together and his free fist shook as he clenched it.

Naruto knew what he was thinking. "Sasuke," He said slowly, "Don't do this, if you rip that thing off and your chakra gets blocked, then we won't get out either way."

Sasuke ignored him and gripped the corner of the seal. "It's worth a try, we're dead anyway." He gave Naruto one of his wide smirks, and ripped.

"Sasuke don't!" Naruto shouted. But it was too late and Sasuke had ripped the seal clean off with an inhuman scream of pain.

"Oh god-" Sasuke gasped for breath, tilting forwards to use his head as support. He hiccupped as tears swelled in his eyes, he smiled wryly and looked over at Naruto. His face showing something are, true desperation without any covered-up confidence. Sasuke looked away and breathed harshly as he began truly sobbing. "I can't feel it."

* * *

Rukia rushed past the metal statues lining the hallways, her feet light as feathers. The others ran by her as they followed the feeling of Naruto's chakra, or rather the nine tails chakra. It was leaking all over the castle. The air was tinted a slight red, scorching them when they gazed it.

They were nearing an intersection of hallways as a man with a wolf scar quickly stepped out from a room. He was holding a box with candles and bowls of red powder. He looked up looked up at them in surprise flinching as he disappeared in a second.

Rukia let out an inhuman growl and pushed all her chakra to her feet. She burst forwards, almost slamming into the walls as she rushed around corners, going faster than ever before. The demonic chakra got more potent as she followed it until it she found the epicentre. The chakra was coming from behind a door with golden spirals.

The others followed a good distance behind as she tore open the door. She stopped dead in her track as she saw what was inside. Sasuke was sprawled on the floor, his wrists were cut open and flowing out over the pattern surrounding him. Naruto was crouched above him, his body covered in the nine tails chakra.

"Right on time!" The man, Kazuki appeared in front of her and ripped her from the door opening and threw her into the circle on the floor.

She rolled and stopped by Sasuke and Naruto. Rukia swallowed as Naruto growled at her, his teeth had grown longer, sharper. She shivered as the eyes she'd never forget gazed at her with hatred.

In the corner of her eye, Rukia saw the others rushing in the door and slamming into a barrier around the circle.

"Rukia!" Jiraiya shouted as the two frogs on his shoulders clapped their hands together, shifting Jiraiya's face as nature chakra ran through him.

The man, Kazuki had entered the barrier, unconcerned by Naruto's demonic appearance, he bend down in a crouch and gapped Rukia's throat in one hand and Naruto's in the other.

Rukia gasped for breath and just before she was about to pass out, Kazuki threw her and Naruto to their separate ends of the circle. Rukia blinked the haze from her eyes and moved to draw a kunai, but found her hands to be stuck to the floor. She shouted, but no sound came out, her throat choked up painfully.

Kazuki swiped Sasuke's blood with his fingers and turned Sasuke around on his back. Kazuki's hand had chakra burns all over them from when he had touched Naruto. He ripped open Sasuke's shirt with a knife and proceed to draw symbols on his chest with it.

The symbols glowed red and Naruto pounced at the man and instead of throwing him away again, Kazuki grabbed Naruto and swiped the knife over his arm, drawing blood. Naruto was kicked away again and Kazuki continued drawing on Sasuke, this time with Naruto's blood. The new symbols glowed a faint yellow when he finished. The man wiped the blood from his hands on a small piece of cloth and walked up up to Rukia.

She wanted to scream, to shout. But all she could was to stare as he flipped a knife along her arm. Tears swelled up in her eyes as he walked back to Sasuke's still body, and continued to draw with her blood. Her blood glowed green as he finished.

Kazuki smiled satisfied and stood up clapping his hands together. He stood like that for a small while until a black smoke ripped its way out of where Sasuke's tenketsu were. A shadow like form, formed from the smoke and two glowing spots opened as if they were eyes. Rukia realised that the form above Sasuke was the Mister Shadow Sasuke told them about.

" **Do you fuckers really think you can best me?"** Mister Shadow's voice was harsh and like a growl as he leaned in towards Kazuki. **"I'm not a fucking idiot like that moron you call Master."** Sasuke twitched on the ground and was suddenly in Kazuki's face, standing between the two, his head hanging to the side. Kazuki was frozen as Sasuke stuck his hand out though the man's stomach. Sasuke's hand was bent at an unnatural angle, broken from the force of going through a body.

Kazuki looked down at the arm and grabbed it with one hand. Fire surged from his palm, spreading out over Sasuke's arm. He ripped the arm from his body, unconcerned by the hole in it. Sasuke's body hang like a ragdoll as his legs burst with black smoke and swept up and kicked Kazuki in the side.

The man was endured the hit without a flinch and threw Sasuke at Rukia, his body slammed into hers. Sasuke groaned and his eyes fluttered open to meet hers in in a daze. Then his body was rising again, as if controlled.

Kazuki focused on Mister Shadow and flipped a burning hand into the shadows middle, mirroring what Sasuke did to him. Flames burst from the arm and the shadow screamed as it was burned from the inside out. "Seems like you're the stupid one." Kazuki grinned and immediately flinched as Sasuke's body slammed into him.

The shadow expand as the fire was removed and the darkness swept out over the whole room, covering the whole floor. The voice of Mister Shadow echoed though the room as his body was obliterated by the fire. **"leave this dump of a world, I won you fucking shit stain."** Kazuki didn't have the time to respond as the barrier disappeared under Kakashi, Jiraiya and Mark's hands. Mark tumbled at the removal of the barrier but Kakashi and Jiraiya was fast, tearing Kazuki apart before he could react.

* * *

 **Epilogue**

"You met Itachi?" Sasuke frowned and set down the glass he was drying off, "And he tried to kill your face?"

Naruto pouted, "He tried to kill Yuuka too, you know. And I think you would have liked the shark guy, he was _blue_."

Sasuke leaned forwards and shifted his head towards Sakura and Yuuka. " _Really?_ That's awesome, I wouldn't mind getting killed by a blue guy."

"Sasuke, don't be suicidal," Hinata commanded, "I would miss you too much. who's make my food otherwise, oh housewife?"

"He had gills on his face," Sakura said with a disgusted upturn of her lip before Sasuke could come with a witty resort, "And his sword still gives me the creeps, it was alive. I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life." She looked at her food and pushed it away, the thought of the living sword affecting her appetite.

Naruto shrugged and stole Sakura's plate, digging into her food. "He'd probably taste good though, I've never eaten shark before. I do remember some Jounin saying it tasted fantastic. Maybe Shark ramen."

"Next time they go after you Naruto, save an arm for me and we'll have an _S-class meal._ " Sasuke snickered at his own joke, "Though- It might actually be cannibalism depending on how human he actually is."

Yuuka rolled her eyes. "Who cares, if he tastes good I'll eat him myself if I must," She pushed her empty plate at Sasuke who took it without a word, "Anyways, Lady Tsunade wants to see you."

Sasuke moaned in dismay. "She does know I'm not a shinobi, right?" He passed a bit and stopped by Naruto, "You," Sasuke said and pointed, "You know her best. How do I sneak around so I can evade her for the rest of her lifetime?"

"You can't." Naruto laughed at the face Sasuke made, "She'll just smash down your walls if she has too. Remember when Yukka broke four of my ribs a month ago, Grandma Tsunade is a thousand times stronger."

"I hate you," Sasuke moaned and dragged his fingers down his face, "You're all strong arming me. I'm feeling a pattern here."

Hinata patted his arm sympathetically. "Don't worry, we'd never strongarm our _little weak, defenceless and chakraless_ Sasuke. He'd just break in two."

"I hate you guys."

"No you don't."

* * *

 **Yeah. I know, the endings a bit anticlimactic. But this was the best I could do with rushing the ending along 30 something chapters. I still have a few ideas for the story so, small one shots of the future are a possibility. When I can be bothered to write them.**

 **I also want to thank all of you who's read this mess of a story, its been an adventure for me as I never thought I could write something this long- ever. Thanks again! loads of love.**


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